
Class 
Bonk 



i OPYRIGKT DEPOSIT 



Beacon Light's of 
the Race 



By 

G. P. HAMILTON 

Principal of Kortrecht High School 

Memphis, Tennessee 



I'M 1 
1. II i I AKK1- t BRi ITHB1 
MI-MI HIS 



EI 










( opyright 1911 by 

G, I'. I hi mil ton 









©ci.av::i>.|!I'.p 



Preface. 




The Object of This Book. 

HIS book is written, primarily, for the inspiration of the 
youth of the Negro race, for this particular raee, of all 
other races under the sun, is most in need of inspiration. 
In the great scheme for the encouragement arid inspiration 
of any race there is no more effective agency than the successful 
achievements and worthy lives of the members of that race. 

False Traditions. 

The youth of the race have been the victims of false and vicious 
traditions that have destroyed their stamina, paralyzed their ener- 
gies, and wrought greater destruction with the future of the race 
than famine, pestilence or war. From the very cradle the youth 
of the race have had instilled in their minds that they were created 
by an all-wise Providence merely to be "hewers of wood and 
drawers of water" for the other races of mankind, and that there 
is no possible escape from that inexorable decree. The flat of 
Providence is that every man shall earn his bread in the sweat of 
his own brow, and this decree applies to all men alike, irrespective 
of color or previous condition. The writer does not believe in the 
circumscriptions of Providence, as applied to any race, but he does 
believe that Omnipotence holds every man personally responsible 
for the manner in which he uses his opportunities, and that He 
confers upon every man the privilege of making his own monument 
of good or evil. This book is a clarion call to the discouraged and 
the weak, exhorting them to buckle on the armor of resolution, 
work out their destiny in the fear of the Lord, and take possession 
of the inexhaustible store of riches which benign Providence has 
bequeathed as an inheritance to every rational and responsible man. 

History Should Be Impartial. 

No people can be sure of impartial history if the narrators ot 
their history are members of a different race, with views and tradi- 
tions that are diametrically opposite and often inimical to the 
interests and welfare of those whose history they are to write. 
Impartial history can be written only by unprejudiced minds, for 
even the scales of justice tremble in the presence of bias and 
unnecessary hatred. The tendency from many outside sources his 
ever been to belittle the history of the Negro race and to deny 
that the race has ever done aught that is worthy of narrating. It 



the plentitude of matt-rial that is available tor showing to the 
world that the lowly and despised Negro race is not lagging 
superfluous and asleep on the stage of human action, but that 
thousands of them have their eves wide open and their faces turned 
to the sun of progress, and arc daily keeping step to the music of 
the world's advancement. 

No Apology to Make. 

The writer has no apology to offer the reading public for writing 
this book. He has no charm of erudition to exhibit, nor am remark- 
able discovery to relate to the world. His bosom is not burdened and 
heaving with any great message to deliver to the world. His main 
object is to stimulate and inspire the youth of the race by setting 
before them concrete examples of some of the most successful men 
of the race and the nation. There is strength for the weak and 
hope for the discouraged in this book, for on its pages are recorded 
the names of men that have made their mark in life and now wear 
the laurel wreath of success already won. It' the marvelous 
examples of achievement herein narrated shall inspire a single 
youth of the race to be of good cheer and take advantage of the 
golden opportunities which this Southland presents to every ambi- 
tious and worthy boy. the writer will feel that his humble efforts 
in behalf of the race Mill not have been in vain. 

G. P. HAMILTON. 

Memphis, Tenn.. June. 1911. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 11 

First, Second and Third Ecumenical Conferences, and he has been 
elected to every General Conference of his church since he was 
eligible for membership in the year of 1878. For tour years In- 
filled with unusual success the office of Commissioner of Education 
and in that capacity he collected moneys for all the schools under 
the jurisdiction of his church. He has ever been closely identified 
with the educational interests of his denomination, and as a financier 
for the interests of the church he has not had a superior. 

The crowning point in the career of the subject of this sketch 
as a gospel minister was when he was elevated to the bishopric in 
the year of 1891. That no mistake was made in his elevation to 
the exalted position which he has so long and so creditably filled is 
demonstrated by the fact that he is without question one of the most 
progressive and up-to-date members of the College of Bishops. He 
brought to his high office the prestige of long and faithful service 
in the pastorate, splendid educational qualification, and undoubted 
pietv. He has made the office of Bishop something more than a 
repository for saintly dignity. He has made it a veritable workshop 
for an active and energetic mind. He has brought his exalted 
office to the level of the people, who are because of that fact more 
benefited and uplifted. As a Bishop he is doing a wonderful work 
for his church. He is the personification of aggressiveness and 
progressiveness, and these characteristics have been far-reaching in 
their influence for good among his people. He lives in the glorious 
present, and he is just the leader that has been needed to stimulate 
the growth of his church and to raise it on a parity with the other 
branches of that same great denomination. 

The Bishop as a Public Speaker. 

The Bishop is a forcible, eloquent speaker, and always brings 
something to his audience that is worth listening to. In his sermons 
there is a happy mixture of scholarship and spiritual fervor. He 
has never forgotten the fact that the primary object of all preaching 
is the conversion of souls to Christ, and that is the great ambition 
of his life. He is a profound theologian, but he does not put this 
power in as much evidence as he does that spiritual power which tor 
years has made him one of the most effective preachers in his 
church. He is a great preacher, and to be a gifted preacher of 
the gospel is to rank not subordinate even to a bishop. 

Wherever the Bishop goes he preaches and lectures on the neces 
sity of education, morality and religion tor the race. His discourses 
are thoughtful, his advice timely, and his counsel wise. He has 
all the equipment of the forceful public speaker. He is entertain- 



12 /»'/;./' o.v LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

ing. witty, eloquent and profound at will. He is not an extremist 
along any line that would provoke fierce antagonism either in the 
ranks of the race or outside of the ranks of the race. He is 
temperamentally sound on all questions affecting the welfare of his 
people, and is thus fitted by nature for leadership. His lectures 
throughout the country are always noted for his vigorous treatment 
of the social evils of the times. He is constantly exhorting his 
people to make themselves decent, industrious, respectable, law- 
abiding citizens, so that they may be worthy of the respect of all 
classes of people, white and black alike. He exhorts them to buy 
lands, build homes and live lives of industry and sobriety. He 
wants the race to wake up from its Rip Van Winkle sleep and take 
hold of the inheritance that the Great First Cause has left for 
them, the opportunity to work and make a living in the sweat of 
their own brows, to be honest men and women and respect themselves 
and the laws of common sense and common decency. As a Bishop 
he has seized every opportunity to promote the welfare of both 
races. He is not an agitator, but a pacificator in the truest sense. 
He believes in absolute peace and friendship between the two races 
in this Southland, and that each race has in the other race its best 
and truest friend. 

The Bishop as a Business Max. 

Too much credit cannot be given to Bishop Cottrell for the mas- 
terly manner in which he has managed his own financial affairs. 
It is true that he is promised a substantial reward in the next world 
for his labors while in this world, but the practical Bishop is not 
averse to enjoying some of the fruits of his labors while sojourning 
in this world. All of his life he has worked and looked well for the 
rainy day. His idle moments have been few. and so well has he 
looked after his own personal interests that he is unquestionably 
one of the wealthiest bishops in America. His is not a wealth 
piled up by avarice and greed, for these two qualities are foreign 
to the Bishop's nature; but his is a substantial wealth that has been 
accumulated by many years of constant industry, thrift and judicious 

• • • v 

investments. He is as shrewd a business man as he is a great 
preacher, and he cut his full set of commercial wisdom teeth many 
years ago. 

He is an eminently practical man. .and never idles his time away 
in wild, chimerical ventures, and if he had aspired to success in the 
lit Ids of speculation and finance, he would have won a name and 
fame in the marts of commerce. Some ministers of the gospel are 
notorious for their inability to look after their own financial interests, 
hut in this particular the Bishop is in a class by himself. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE KAi E 13 

His Palatial Home. 

In the humble opinion of the writer, there are but few individuals 
of any race that get out of life as much of the happiness of real good 
living as the worthy Bishop does. In his home, surrounded by 
broad acres of smiling plenty for the mind and appetite, there is 
nothing lacking to satisfy the wishes and ambitions of even a prince 
of the realm. The home of Bishop Cottrell is palatial both in its 
size and its appointments. It is the center of attraction for every 
visitor to the town of Holly Springs, and in the pleasant days of the 
year it is a veritable observation point for the aristocracy, as well 
as the democracy of the visiting contingent to the city of Holly 
Springs. It is such a home as befits the head of a great church, 
and the whole church should rejoice because of the splendid 
example of material wealth that is shown as the result of his inde- 
fatigable labors. The total cost of the Bishop's palatial home is 
about ten thousand ($10,000) dollars. It is baronnial in its size, 
and its appointments are as complete as money can provide. Its 
verandas are the most capacious in the State, and will hold a multi- 
tude of people. 

His Estimable Wife. 

On the 6th of June, in the year of 1880, the real successful career 
of Bishop Cottrell began with his marriage to Miss Catherine 
Davis, of Columbia, Tennessee. She is a woman of culture and 
refinement, and in her school days she attended the Bellevuc Public 
School of Nashville, Tenn., and Fisk University of the same city. 
She is truly the queen of the palatial home over which she presides, 
and her home is but a faint testimonial of the great love and 
devotion which her husband has for her. She has been the faithful 
and loving companion of her husband through all the grades of his 
honor in the church, from the humblest to the most exalted. The 
Bishop has received her encouragement, her inspiration and her 
prayers for his success, and he has succeeded because of her fidelity 
and loyalty. She is a woman in whose character affability, taste, 
tact and sound judgment are harmoniously compounded, and she 
is such a woman as can always make the life of a minister of the 
gospel a complete success. 

Their accomplished daughter. Mrs. C. Gillis, Jr.. gained her 
literary training mainly at Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss . 
and Walden University. Nashville. Tenn. She is a high class vocalist 
and an accomplished pianist. She is at the head of the music 
department of Mississippi Industrial College, Holly Springs, Miss.. 
and has served in her present capacity since the year of pinii. 




GROl P i IF BUILDINGS- M. I. COL] EGE 

-RHSIDRNCE OF BISH KM. LI— BISHOP COTTRBLL. Ill— CATHERINE HALL. 

IV— J. D. HAMMOND HALL. V— B. [\ WASHINGTON HA1 



BEACO.X Lh.llls or THE RACE 15 

The M. I. College His Great Monument. 

One of the most enduring monuments to tin- untiring efforts of 
Bishop Cottrell is the magnificent college on whose erection and 
maintenance he has spent many of the best years of his life. The 
erection and growth of this institution of learning have hardly a par- 
allel in this country. The college began its beneficent existence in the 
month of January. 1906. While its very beginning was auspicious, 
yet its subsequent growth has surpassed the most sanguine expecta- 
tions of its founder and friends. From the opening of the doors of 
this institution it began to take a leading rank among the higher 
institutions of learning in the land. Students from seven States of 
the Federal Union have been in attendance, and the total number of 
students for the scholastic year ending in the summer of 1910 was 
three hundred and seventy-six (376). This college, which began 
its existence only in the year of 1906, has the most magnificent 
collection of college buildings in the South, when due consideration 
is given to its age. It has three commodious and substantial build 
ings, viz.: Washington Hall, built at a cost of $40,000; Catherine 
Hall, at a cost of $28,000; and J. I). Hammond Hall, at a cost of 
$17,000. There are additional houses on the campus, which cost 
more than $3,000. The institution has two hundred and ten (210) 
acres of land, valued at $30,000. 

The college is Christian, rather than sectarian, though it is 
under the auspices and government of the Colored Methodist Epis 
copal Church. The environment of the school is thoroughly moral 
.and Christian, and every safeguard that will promote their physical, 
moral, intellectual and Christian welfare is put around the lives 
of the students. 

The college maintains all of the departments which are found 
in the representative institutions of the South. In addition to the 
regular literary courses leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts 
and Bachelor of Science, the college maintains courses in Theology. 
Music, Shorthand and Tyepwriting, Plain Sewing and Dressmaking, 
Millinery, Gardening and Farming, and general industrial work. 
It is a college that is prepared to educate a student for a life of 
usefulness and service, and that is the kind of education that is most 
needed by the down-trodden, backward race of today. It has a 
facultv of hiffhlv capable men and women, from some of the lust 

• ~ ■ I 

colleges and universities, and in this respeel the patrons and friends 

of the college arc to be congratulated. 

Tin; Bishop vs \ F lrmer. 

The Bishop has a hobby. All great men have hobbies, but SOm< 

of them are not so practical and useful as the worthy Bishop'-, 



16 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

hobby. Next to his calling in the ministry of the gospel, the sub- 
ject of farming seems to interest the Bishop most. He is one of 
the most enthusiastic farmers in his State, and he can discourse as 
entertainingly on the subject of crops, soils and cultivation as lie 
can in his sermons and public lectures. He grows so enthusiastic 
that he seldom sits when matters along farming lines are being 
discussed. He considers the independent life of a farmer as an 
ideal existence for any people, and he has encouraged and exhorted 
his people to live close to the soil, shun the life and temptation of 
the big cities, and gmw powerful and independent on the fertile 
lands of this Southland. Under his personal supervision he main- 
tains a model farm at his home, and the relaxation that the life of 
a husbandman affords him gives to him the desired opportunity to 
engage in a work in which he is so deeply interested. 

His Honorary Degrees. 

The Bishop is one of the most experienced ministers and one of 
the ripest scholars of his connection. He is trained in the lan- 
guages that enable one to make original investigation of the Holy 
Bible. His theological training was long continued and thorough, 
and he is one of the leading theologians of his church. As an 
humble tribute to the Bishop's profound scholarship, great service 
to his people and his deep piety, the honorary degree of Doctor of 
Divinity was conferred upon him by Rust University. Holly 
Springs. Mississippi, in the year of 1 <)<><). While this exalted degree 
did not add one iota to his splendid ability, it did show the degree of 
appreciation in which his ability was recognized by one of the 
leading institutions of learning in the South. 

His Official Honors. 

He was elevated to the bishopric at the Seventh General Confer- 
ence, which was held in the city of Memphis, Tennessee. May 13, 
1NJM. He is Presiding Bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District of 
the Colored Methodist Church in America. He is Treasurer of 
Mississippi Industrial College. He is Treasurer of the Building 
Fund of Haygood Seminary. He is President of the Board of Trus 
tees of Homer College. Homer, Louisiana, and tills a similar capacity 
with Haygood Seminary, Washington. Ark. 

His [nvestments \m> Wealth. 

Expression has already heen given to the statement that the 
worthy Bishop is an able business man and financier. Surrounding 
his palatial home then- are twenty acres Of fertile land that the 



BEACOJS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 17 

Bishop would not sell for five hundred ($500) dollars per acre. 
Thus the home residence of the Bishop is conservatively estimated 
to be worth twenty thousand (.$20,000) dollars. In addition to this 
realty he is the owner of two other pieces of improved property in 
Holly Springs, Miss., which are worth three thousand ($3,000) 
dollars. Very close to the town of Holly Springs he owns fifty (50) 
acres of farm land valued at fifteen hundred dollars. In the town 
of Marianna. Ark., he owns property to the value of seven hundred 
and fifty ($750) dollars. He is a stockholder in the Holly Springs 
Oil Mill Company; he is a stockholder in the Holly Springs Ice 
Factory. He is also a stockholder in the North Mississippi Fair 
Association. The total wealth of Bishop Cottrell may be estimated 
at thirty thousand ($30,000) dollars. 

A Wise and Progressive Race Leader. 

The Bishop is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he holds 
in the highest esteem the principles of the order, but he is first, last 
and all the time a preacher of the gospel and a presiding bishop of 
a great church, the C. M. E. Church of America. He is a liberal, 
up-to-date, high class Bishop, with no mossback tendencies. He is 
as liberal in his views and opinions as he is in his contribu- 
tions to worthy causes. He believes in the power of religion and 
education, and that these two agencies can solve correctly all human 
problems. For many years he has worked like a Trojan for the 
educational, moral, spiritual and material uplift of his people, and 
he has accomplished great things for his people and for the age in 
which he lives. He is thoroughly democratic in his tastes and 
habits, and his elevation to the exalted office which he holds has not 
changed the amiability of his disposition nor the loveliness of his 
character. In many respects he is many years ahead of his people 
and the age in which he lives. He believes in the possibilities of 
the race, and he has done a thousand things to promote the welfare 
and uplift of his people. He is prompt in all business matters, and 
is the personification of punctuality in every essential thing. He 
is a great preacher, a safe and conservative leader of his people, an 
admirable presiding Bishop, and one of the mighty men of the race 
in many worthy respects. 



18 



/;/•;./' OS LIGHTS OF THE BAl E 




Arthur McKimmon Brown, ././>., M.D.. Birmingham, Ala. 

T IS lli> favorite pastime of many people of both races 
to decry the ability of the Negro to master the learned 
professions, md especially that most ancient and mosi 
difficult one which has for its object the alleviation 
of the suffering and the curing of the ills of the human fam 
ilv. It is a sweeping criticism thai many of the physicians 
of the race have neither the capacity nor the opportunity 




BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 19 

to quality themselves for the highest success in their profession. 
Of course, all such declarations have long since been exploded, and 
have no status whatsoever among intelligent people, for there are 
in nearly every community of the South physicians of the race 
whose ability enables them to take the front rank in their profession 
and whose great success is the common pride and glory, not only of 
their race, but of the entire medical world. Indeed, there is no 
color line in the domain of the intellect, and there are the same 
possibilities for success for the high class colored physician that 
there are for the high class physician of the dominant race. Such 
is the good fortune of Dr. Arthur McKimmon Brown, of Birming- 
ham, Ala., who is both by education and experience one of the most 
eminent physicians of the South, irrespective of race. 

His Birthplack and Early Education. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of North Carolina, and 
was born in its capital city. Raleigh. November Q, 18(i7. As to 
educational advantages and environment, he was a very fortunate 
youth, for both of his parents were intelligent and his £randmother 
was one of the first colored teachers in the schools of the city of 
Raleigh. His parents were in fair circumstances for those early 
times, and they took great interest in the education of their children. 
His father, who is still living, was the leading tonsorial artist of 
his city, and was recognized by all classes as one of the city's most 
representative and most progressive colored citizens. 

The subject of this .sketch was a pupil in the public schools of 
Raleigh until he was twelve years old, when his parents sent him 
to Shaw University. Raleigh. X ('.. where he studied for two years. 
At the expiration of that time lie was returned to the public schools 
and placed under the instruction and inspiration of Miss Louise S. 
Dorr, an eminent .and popular teacher of those days. While attend- 
ing this school his exceptional ability as a student enabled him to 
win a competitive scholarship at Lincoln University. This scholar- 
ship was good for four years and was a monument to the generosity 
and philanthropy of a man whose identity has been a sealed book 
to him even until this day. 

A Graduate ok Lincoln University. 

In the month of September, 1884, the subject matriculated as 

a student in the Freshman class of Lincoln University. At Lincoln 
University the future gifted physician distinguished himself, not 
only for excellence in scholarship, but for unusual ability as a 
vocalist. When he was a little boy in the public schools of his native 



20 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA( /.' 

city he had a remarkably fine singing voice, and he gained quite a 
local fame as an impersonator of" female parts in singing, and he 
still has in his possession two gold coins that were thrown on the 
stage to him as a compliment to his splendid singing. As he grew 
older his ability as a vocalist became more and more pronounced, so 
that when he became a student of Lincoln University his vocal powers 
gained for him ready admittance to membership on the College 
Silver Leaf Glee Club, with which he traveled extensively, and in 
which he was a star entertainer, both as vocalist and monologist. 

His student life at Lincoln University was one of serious and 
consecrated preparation for the duties and responsibilities of life. 
and it was in every respect a credit both to him and the institution. 
He was not only a social favorite, but he stood high in the intel- 
lectual firmament of his class. Having applied himself diligently 
for four years, he won the honor for which he had toiled and 
striven, and graduated from the university with the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts in the year of 1888. 

His Boyhood Dream Was to Bk a Doctor. 

When the doctor was a mere youth, his medical instincts were so 
pronounced that he was hailed as "doctor" by all the youth around, 
and in his juvenile way he "practiced" on all the youth in his 
neighborhood. Later on in life, when he was a student in the Junior 
Class in college, he became unusually interested in the study of 
physiology, and the result of his passionate interest in physiological 
research was his determination to take up the study of medicine in 
preparation for his life work. 

Off to the University or Michigan to Study. 

Having resolved to take up the study of medicine, after his 
graduation from Lincoln University, the next step in the scheme of 
his preparation was to make a choice of the medical college which 
was to be the place of his professional preparation for life. There 
were with him as students at Lincoln University two other ambitious 
young men. who also had decided to pursue a medical career. The 
three prospective medical students entered into an agreement thai 
each of them would attend a different medical college, and that 
the wisdom of their respective choices would he determined by their 
respective success out in the professional world. Mr. John S. Out- 
law selected Howard University, Washington, D. ('.. as the theater 
of his medical investigations; Mr. A. M. Curtis, a cousin of Dr. 
Brown, selected a medical college in the city of Chicago. 111., and 
the worthy subject of this sketch decided to attend t lit medic;il 
college of the University of Michigan. 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 21 

His Brilliant Career at the University of Michigan. 

In the autumn of 1888 the subject of this sketch matriculated as 

a student in the medical department of the University of Michigan. 
He went there to study, for he was eager to demonstrate to his 
former two colleagues that his was the wisest selection. He was a 
hard and conscientious student and sacrificed every social pleasure 
on the altar of diligence to duty. In his class of one hundred and 
one members he was the sole representative of his race, and that 
fact was an additional incentive for him to do his best. In his 
fierce determination to master the difficulties in his lessons, he often 
sat up the whole night, and so frequently was that the case that 
when he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Uni- 
versity of Michigan in the year of 18<)1 he was but little more than 
a walking skeleton. 

One grand triumph that the doctor scored while a student at the 
University of Michigan gives him special pride. He succeeded in 
answering a question in ophthalmology on which every other student 
of the one hundred and one members of the class had failed inglori- 
ously. The doctor's reward for having given the only correct 
answer was his appointment to an assistant ship in the professor's 
office. 

Who Will Locate in Alabama? 

A short time before the graduation of the class the professors 
made inquiry of all the graduates where each one expected to locate 
to practice the profession. In response to this inquiry the graduates 
named nearly every State in the Union except the State of Alabama. 
The reputation of the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners 
seemed to have terrified them all, and there was not one member of 
the class that had determined to brave it. The subject of this sketch 
had never even thought of practicing his profession in the State of 
Alabama, but as soon as lit' had beheld the abject fear of his class- 
mates and their avowed declaration to pass by the State of Alabama, 
he immediately resolved to brave the terrors of the Alabama medical 
examination and thus save the honor of his class. 

Home., Home., Sweet Home, Again. 

As soon as he had received his diploma of' graduation from the 
University of Michigan he went directly to the city <>f Cleveland. 

a. D * 

Ohio, to which his parents had moved from the State of North Caro- 
lina, for the purpose of recuperating and enjoying his first season 
of absolute leisure for seven long years. There he rested and 
recuperated during the whole of the summer, but in the autumn of 



22 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

1891 lie turned his face in the direction of the State of Alabama. 
He submitted to the examination of the Alabama State Board and 
found the test to be up to the standard, but to his thoroughly trained 
mind the examination was the quintessence of simplicity. He passed 
the examination ami made an average <>f 98 1-4 per cent., which 
was the highest average that had ever been made in the history of 
the examining board. 

Practicing Medicine in the South. 

His auspicious beginning was the harbinger of the success that 
was in store for him in a professional way. He hung out his shingle 
in the town of Bessemer. Ala., where he remained for two years, 
but the panic of 1893 so thoroughly deranged business affairs in 
the district around the city of Birmingham that he temporarily 
abandoned the practice of his profession in that town and returned 
home to Cleveland. At the expiration of one year he returned to 
the South, located in the city of Birmingham and took up the 
practice of Dr. Norman H. Hudson, who had become incapacitated 
for service in his profession, and had returned to his island home 
in the city of Jamaica. West Indies Islands. 

The doctor practiced his profession in the city of Birmingham 
from 1891 until 1902, witli the exception of one year's absence. 
In the year of 1902 he was induced to move to the city of Chicago 
to practice his profession. There lie purchased a beautiful ten- 
room, two-story residence, and settled down to serious professional 
work, but the precarious health of his first wife compelled his return 
to the South in search of restoration for her. This extremity was. 
however, in vain, for she soon passed to her reward in a better land. 

The First Colored Surgeon in the Regular I'. S. Army. 

The practice of Dr. Brown in the city of Birmingham was carried 
on without interruption until the beginning of hostilities in the 
Spanish-American war. when the doctor had the unprecedented 
honor of being appointed a surgeon in the famous Tenth Cavalry 
of the United States army. When he received his commission in 
the month of July. 1898, he enjoyed the distinction of being the 
first colored surgeon that was ever officially connected with the 
regular army of tlie United Stales. He served as army surgeon for 

about a year in the tierce campaigns that were waged on the islands, 
and in the spring of 1899 he received his honorable discharge from 
the service of his country, returned to the city of Birmingham and 
resumed the practice which had been interrupted by the call to arms. 



BEACOJX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 23 

The Author of a Book. 

Dr. Brown is an author as well as a physician, and, in collabora- 
tion with four other veterans of the Spanish-American war, he 
wrote an interesting book, entitled "Under Fire With the Tenth 
United States Cavalry." This book gives facts and inside informa- 
tion concerning the part which the colored soldier played in the 
insular war between the United States and the Kingdom of Spain. 
This book is of fascinating interest, and should be read by every 
patriotic colored American. Address the doctor for any informa- 
tion concerning this book. 

A Member of a Talented Family. 

The doctor takes pardonable pride in the talented and accom- 
plished family of which he is a member. Of the seven children that 
compose the family, two are practicing physicians, two are lawyers, 
two are dental surgeons, and the only daughter is the estimable 
wife of a disciple of the immortal Blackstone. 

His Devoted and Estimable Wife. 

On the 27th of September, 1905, Dr. Brown succeeded in diag- 
nosing and curing one of the most obstinate cases of heart disease 
that he ever encountered and, strange to say, the disease afflicted 
the doctor himself. He cured this disease by wooing, winning and 
leading to the altar Miss Nellie Adams, of Birmingham. Ala. She is 
a native of the State of Georgia, and spent a part of her student 
life at Atlanta University. She is a young woman of superior 
intelligence, and at one time she held an honored position as teacher 
in the city schools of Birmingham. She is prominently connected 
with religious and club work among her people. She is devoted to 
the welfare and happiness of her husband and children, and she 
has no higher aspiration than to be able to minister, as best she can, 
to their necessities and pleasures. 

His Success as a Physician. 

The success of Dr. Brown as a practicing physician has been 
highly gratifying. The fact is. it has been phenomenal. Not only 
is he the peer of any other physician in his State as a general prac- 
titioner, but he is one of the greatest surgeons in the South. He 
has the reputation of having performed more successful operations 
than any other physician in the State of Alabama. His experience 
as a surgeon in the Spanish-American war was invaluable to him 
in affording him that opportunity for surgical experience which 



24 



/;/;./' OX LIGHTS OF THE /.'./' E 



only the field of slaughter can give. Hi-* practice is im< of the 
largest in the State of Alabama, and there is general assurance of 

the best attention when lie is called to the bedside of a patient. 




DIMM, ROOM AND PARLOR OF l>K. AND MRS, A, M. HKi >\\ N 



III Owns ()\i of the Finest Residences in the State oi 

Al \ll \MA. 

It is bul reasonable t<> suppose thai a physician of hi-> Long expcri- 
enci nid unbounded success would have something substantial t< 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 25 

show lor his professional activity. Such is indeed the case, for Dr. 
Brown is said to have one of the most palatial residences in the State 
of Alabama. It was planned by a great colored architect, and was 
built at an outlay of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars. 

A Description of His Residence. 

The style of the building is old English. It has specially designed 
oak doors and Moors. The materials used in its construction are 
concrete blocks, stucco, stained shingles and hardwood floors. The 
residence has three Moors and basement. In the basement are the 
furnace room, coal room and laundry room. On the first Moor are 
ten rooms, reception, drawing, library, dining, breakfast, pantry, 
kitchen, guest chamber, coat and cloak and cold storage. It has 
special designs for doors, leaded glass windows, beam ceilings, 
buffet, brick mantels, cozy corners, seats and art glass, with electric 
lights and plumbing of the latest and most improved styles. Col- 
ored effects as to harmony of each room to suit the furniture. Mis- 
sion, Flemish and Louis XIV. effects are predominant. The second 
Moor has eight rooms, as follows: Three bed rooms, children's room, 
servants' room, bath room, linen room, sewing room, trunk room 
and the doctor's palatial den. Clothes and cloak closets arc pro- 
vided for each suite of rooms. The third Moor has a reception room 
and is finished up with beaver board, with exposed beam ceiling, 
with seats, and with special design Dutch furniture. Walls, ceiling 
and furniture are in mission Mnish. 

This is a careful description of the doctor's palatial mansion, 
which is Mt for the dwelling place of one of the great barons of 
mediaeval times. It is not only one of the most elegant and one 
of the most complete residences in the Southland, but it is one of the 
most palatial in the United States belonging to a member of the 
N'egro race. Just as this magniMccnt residence is the climax ot 
excellence in the builder's art, so is the doctor himself one of the 
crowning glories of the medical profession. In the very prime ot 
life and vigor, there is hope that many more years of well-earned 
success will be his. and that he will continue to be in the future 
what he has ever been in the past, one of the ablest and one of the 
most public-spirited citizens of the Magic City of the South. 



2-, 



liEACOy LI'; His OF THE RACE 



Rev. C. L. Bonner, B.D., D.D., Toccoa, Ga. 

Presiding Elder Elbertox District C. .M. E. Church. 

HAT the Negro race is thf beneficiary of God's provi- 
dence and that it is blessed in spite of the thousands 
of disadvantages and burdens which the teeming cen- 
turies of the past have imposed upon it. is evident 
from the number of strong, useful and able men whose sympa- 
thetic hearts, powerful intellects and exemplary lives have caused 





REV. AND MRS. C. I BONNER 



them voluntarily to assume Leaderships, hear the brunt and tur- 
moil of conflict, and carry the race upward and onward to pro- 
gress, prosperity and honor. It has ever been the wisdom of Provi- 
dence to prepare and provide for every people that which will 
enable them to live the most successful and the most glorious life 
thai il is possible lor them to live. In .-ill ages of the world nun 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 27 

have risen from the most humble conditions to positions of respon- 
sibility and honor among their people. They have indelibly 
impressed their characters upon the institutions of their times and 
have, helped to make the world, in every possible wav. better and 
grander because they live, move and have their being in it. Such is 
the ambition and record of the worthy, useful and able divine. Rev. 
C. L. Bonner, whose short life story is herein portrayed. 

His Birthplace. 

The wealth of a community does not depend upon its climate or 
its fertile soil, or its natural productions, but it does depend upon 
the intelligence and character of the men and women that it pro- 
duces for the battles and conflicts of life. In Dallas County. 
Alabama, November 2, 1872, there was born of humble but honor- 
able origin a being that was destined to become a great power for 
the uplift of his people along material, intellectual and moral lines. 
He was born on a farm, and was the dutiful and ambitious son of a 
minister of the gospel. Thus it may be seen that the subject of this 
sketch is a native of Alabama, and that everything that be represents 
in the way of usefulness and progress is a compliment to the State 
of his nativity. 

His Education. 

The efforts of the subject to gain an education is a splendid 
tribute to his resolute and determined spirit, and should be an 
incentive to the ambitious and struggling youth of the race to 
persevere until they reach the goal of their ambition. He was first 
sent by his parents to the common schools of his home county, and 
remained therein until he had reached his thirteenth birthday, when 
his school career, for the time, was brought to an abrupt close. His 
father had purchased a farm and really needed the services of his 
son at home to help the father make the money with which to pay 
for the farm. The son was loyal to his father's interests and 
willingly worked, sacrificed and hoped for the day when the farm 
would be paid for and when he might return to school and complete 
his education. When he had attained his majority he returned 
to school and entered Paine College. Augusta. Ga., in which institu- 
tion he graduated from the Academic Department in the vear of 
1898. 

A Student of Clarke University. 

After his graduation from the academic department of Paine 

College, he matriculated at Clarke University; Atlanta. Ga.. for the 



BEACOX LI' : II I 9 OF I ill: /.'./' E 

purpose of pursuing and completing the classical course. However, 
it was not liis good fortune to complete the entire classical course, 
hut he did prosecute liis studies until he had about completed tin- 
tirst half nt' his Senior year in college, when a change in his confer 
ence work suddenly brought to a close his college career. For all 
practical purposes. Rev. Homier might he considered an alumnus 
of Clarke University, tor out in the Lfreat university of lite he his 
not only graduated with the highest honors, hut he has taken several 
post-graduate courses. 

A Graduate of Gammon Theologk m. Seminary. 

In the year of 1902, while he was serving as pastor of Butler 
Street G. M. E. Church. Atlanta, Ga,. the subject of this sketch 
took advantage of the splendid opportunities tor theological study 
which his fortunate pastorate gave him, and matriculated as i 
student of Gammon Theological Seminary. He pursued his minis 
terial studies with diligence, and received as his reward his diploma 
«.l graduation from that historic seminary in the year of 1904. 

A Minister of the Gospel. 
"Like father, like son.'* is truly representative of the ministerial 

career of the subject. His father was one of the pioneer ministers 
of the C. M. E. Church, and helped to blaze out the path tor the 
present generation. Rev. C. 1.. Bonner began his career in the 
gospel ministry in the year of 1S|)S. when he was in his twenty 
sixth year. lie has had one of the most successful careers in the 
history of his branch of the Christian church, and is considered one 
ot' the ministerial heacon lights of his denomination. In the coursi 
of his worthy and useful career in th>- traveling connection he has 
served with credit the following charges: Waycross Station, oik 1 
year: First Church, Savannah. Ga., three years; Butler Street 
Church. Atlanta. Ga., two years. At the present time he is serving 
in his seventh year is presiding elder of' tin- Elberton District. 
i ■' orgifl ( on ference. 

Presiding Elder Elberton District, Georgia Conference. 

If has been the good fortune of very tew ministers of the gospel 
to he as great a factor tor the advancement and uplift of thi' race 
is is tin- reverend subject of this sketch. He proved his superior 
worth while laboring in the pastorate, hut the sphere ot his service 
mil usefulness has immeasurably increased since the beginning ot 
his term as presiding elder ot' the Elberton District. Georgia Con- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 2" 

ference. In the district over which he has so Long and so ably 

presided there are twenty-six churches, with a total membership of 
:;,000. In the performance of his duties he has not only taken great 
interest in the spiritual and moral uplift of Ins people, hut lie has 
bent all the energies of his mind and body to their intellectual and 
material progress. He has inaugurated a happy departure from 
the old order of things, and has adopted the latest twentieth century 
methods for his people. While he has preached to his people about 
the beauties of the New Jerusalem in the world to come, yet he has 
not failed to exhort his people to make the best and most honorable 
use of the Jerusalem of opportunity that is right at them every 
day of their terrestrial lives. Living among the farming classes of 
his people, he has striven in every possible manner to edify and 
enlighten them along the line of their life work. He realizes the 
importance of the farmer to the life of the nation, and that in 
proportion to the degree that the farmer can intelligently and wisely 
look after his interests will not only the race hut the nation pros- 
per. He sees the progress of the race, not in the congested centers 
of population, where it is the scourge of sickness, disease and death, 
hut in the country on the farm, where amidst intelligence and 
plenty, the whole race may hlossom like the rose. 

His Farmers' Conferences. 

In connection with his meetings in the district, he calls the 
farmers together at stated intervals with these two objects in view, 
viz: (1) That his preachers may study more seriously the economic 
condition of the people whom they serve; (2) that the people may 
see that the preacher is a constructive force in the community, and 
not merely a human parasite that is destructive in its tendencies. 
Unusual interest has been manifested in their meetings, and every 
discussion has for its object the direct and lasting benefit of the 
farmers who are most directly concerned. Some of the subjects 
which have already been discussed are as follows: 

(a) The Necessity for the Negro's Keeping (lose to the Soil. 

(b) The Value of Intensive Farming. 

(c) What Part of the Farm Should Be Planted in Food Crops? 

(d) Why Should the City He Interested in Country Life? 

(e) To What Extent Should Cattle and Hog Raising He Carried 

On Upon tin Farm? etc.. etc.. etc. 

As it has already been stated, these discussions .ire all practical 
and timely and of inestimable benefit to the farmers of his district. 
There is always benefit in wise discussion and deliberation, for wise 
men deliberate and weigh opinions, while fools quarrel only to 



30 /;/;.,'< <>\ LIGHTS OF I in: /'./' i: 

destroy each other. The success of the fanners' conferences has 
proved so pronounced that other presiding elders may imitate his 
worthv example and thus help to stimulate the farmers of the race 
to the highest degree of efficiency along the line of the most 
important occupation under the sun in heaven. Any discussion 
that will open the eyes of the farming classes of the race as to how 
they may be able to wrest from nature's laboratory the greatest 
possible percentage of yield is worthy of the greatest encourage- 
ment. The Negroes of the South, through the instrumentality of 
such leaders as Rev. ('. L. Bonner and others, will stimulate the 
agricultural output of the South and prove the natural superiority 
of the black race over all other races as cultivators of the soil in 
this sunny Southland. 

In these conferences white friends of the race are not only 
interested spectators, but they are cheerful participants in the 
discussions. This willing co-operation of men of both races has 
greater significance than one would ordinarily think. It means an 
awakened interest in the fundamental occupation of the human race. 
II means better results for both races and a corresponding increase 
of respect and love of farm life among the masses of both races. 

Founder of Hartwell Agricultural and Industrial Institute. 

Rev.C. I.. Bonner has demonstrated to the world in a concrete 
manner his belief in the importance and value of education by 
founding a school in which the youth of the race may be trained 
in habits of industry in connection with moral and intellectual train- 
ing. Th. subject of this sketch organized at Hartwell, Ga., the 
school which is so widely and so favorably known as Hartwell 
Agricultural and Industrial Institute. Under the auspices of this 

school the farmers in its community hold their meetings, and the 

school is in many respects a social, intellectual and moral center. 
whence radiates much of the best thought of the people of the 

community. Rev. Homier has no reason to feel discouraged con- 
cerning the outlook tor his school, for he has already, in many 
instances, seen substantial and tangible results emanate from tin- 

institution which he founded. 

1 Ionohs Prom 1 1 1* Ch ur< h. 

He has been honored with (lection to two general conferences ot 
the ('. M. E. Church. He was honored with the position ot' fraternal 
delegate to the General Conference o\ the Methodist Episcopal 
( hurch at Asheville, V ( '.. representing the C. M. E. Church, 
lb- has alreadv been elected a deleent< to the Ecumenical Conference 



BE.tcoy Limits OF THE RACE 31 

to be held in Toronto, Canada, in the year of 1911- He is worthy 
of every honor in the gift of the church, and the coming years will 
prove the wisdom of the church's conferring the highest honors 
upon its worthiest men. 

A Shrewd and Enterprising Business Man. 

As a shrewd, enterprising and aggressive business man, the sub- 
ject is one of the most sucessful in the ranks of his church. While 
his earthly labors will receive their due reward in the world to 
come, Rev. Bonner is not at all averse to receiving and enjoying 
some of the benefits of his labors while sojourning on this terrestrial 
ball. He is not only highly succesful as a financier in the church, 
but he is the prince of financiers in the business world. He is 
energetic, thrifty and aggressive, and has the faculty of being 
able to tike care of himself in any business proposition. Becoming 
modesty forbids his admitting it. but Rev. Bonner is in splendid 
circumstances with reference to the goods of this world. He lias 
accumulated houses and lands to an extent that is far out of the 
ordinary for a minister of the gospel. There is nothing to the 
detriment of the minister who is endowed with enough pride and 
manhood to enable him to lay by something for the inevitable rainy 
day which will come to both preacher and layman alike. If a 
minister would truly exert an influence for good among his people, 
he must preach to them both by precept and example. The most 
eloquent sermon that can be preached to a people is not with words 
but with deeds of success. The time has long since passed and gone 
when men without a semblance of a home will get into the pulpits 
of the race and exhort it how to live. The material success of Rev. 
Bonner has done the whole race good, and it is hoped that his 
extraordinary success will influence others to go and try to do 
likewise. 

His Devoteb and Estimable Wife. 

The year of 1902 blazes forth like a beacon light in the portals 
of his memory, for on the ever memorable 21st of January of that 
year it was the happy privilege of Rev. Bonner to woo. win and 
lead to the .altar Miss Roxie Rhodes, of Waynesboro. Ga., and 
dedicate the energies of his life to her comfort and happiness. In 
addition to the intellectual enjovment that Paine College afforded 
him when he was a student in its classic walls, he wis tin- recipient 
of that enjoyment which only the future companion of his lite could 
confer. His future wife was likewise a student at Paine College, 
and not onlv did both of them studv the contents of their hook-, but 



HEACUS LIUU I - OF THE /.'./' E 

each one of them had ample opportunity in which to studj the 
character and merits of each other. His devoted wife also studied 
at Clarke University, Atlanta, Ga., and thus she had the best 
educational training. She is a cultured woman and worthy to be the 
lit', companion of her talented and progressive husband. She is 
of a modest and retiring disposition, and prefers the seclusion of her 
home instead of the limelight of public activiity. She is devoted to 
her husband and home, and her greatest ambition is to contribute all 
of her energies and talents to promoting the happiness of her hus- 
band and the comforts of his home. She prefers to reign as queen 
of her home, and in this respect there is no other woman mor< 
dt voted and more loyal to her trust. The race needs women of her 
temperament, for the home is the foundation of society. The storms 
of life may blow in fury over the head of her husband, but he will 
ever have a safe refuge when he enters the sacred confines of his 
home, sweet home. 

Deputy Grand Chan< ellor Knights of Pythias. 

Not only is the worthy subject of this sketch prominent in 
religious and educational circles, but lie is conspicuous in the ranks 
of the Knights of Pythias of the State of Georgia, being the honored 
Deputy Grand Chancellor of that organization. This fraternity 
has a membership of between ten and fifteen thousand in the Stat' . 
and pays an endowment of $350. The litigation of the order in the 
past few years has militated somewhat against its progress, but it is 
still a great and militant organization, and is doing its share of good 
in promoting the welfare of the race. 

Hi Cultivates Amity and Co-Operation Between the Races. 

That the subject of this sketch is endowed with the requisites ol 
true leadership for his people is evidenced by the spirit of amity 
and cooperation that he tries to cultivate and establish between the 
members of both races in this Southland. He appreciates the truth 
of the old maxim that no man liveth entirely unto himself, and that 
he lives best and noblest who can deserve and command the sym- 
pathy, friendship and co-operation of those with whom his lot is 
cast. lie has Labored to lie a constructive force for good in his 
community, and not a destructive force tor evil. He is not an 

agitator and extremist, but he is known and appreciated tor his 
conservative ideas. He lias long since realized the benefits which 
always accrue bv cultivating the good will and friendship ot his 
white neighbors, and the wisdom of his course has been demonstrated 
in an infinite variety of ways. He commands the respect, confidence 

and assistance of his white neighbors, who have taken pride in his 



BEAC02H LIGHTS OF THE RACE 33 

efforts in behalf of his race, and they have from time to time given 
him substantial evidences of their sympathy and friendly co-opera- 
tion. 

A Real Leader of His Race. 

Rev. C. L. Bonner has every qualification for superior leadership. 
As he is an educated man and not an intemperate ignoramus, he can 
always make his appeal to the intelligence of his people rather than 
to their prejudices and passions. He is as much interested in the 
material progress of his people as he is in their moral, intellectual 
and religious welfare, for this is a materialistic age. He has the 
happy faculty of deserving the best wishes of the members of the 
dominant race, as well as those of his own race, and his great 
success is in a large measure due to his peculiar power in this 
direction. He is one of the leading ministers of his church, and 
is recognized as such all over his State. He has legitimately 
accumulated the foundation for a competency in life, and is thus 
a worthy example of successful achievement. He is enterprising, 
energetic and aggressive as a business man and a human dynamo 
of activity along all worthy and useful lines. Nature herself seems 
to have stamped the badge of pre-eminence on him, for she gave him 
a magnificence of bod} T and mind that easily makes him one of the 
most observed and one of the most popular men of his section of the 
country. He is hopeful and optimistic concerning the future of the 
race, and he is daily doing all that he can do to promote and conserve 
the progress, welfare and prosperity of his people. 



<V1 



34 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




MOSES A. CI 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RAi E 35 

Moses A. Clark, Marianna, Ark. 

Editor of The Opinion-Enterprise and P. G. M. of F. A. A. Vf. 

of Arkansas. 

ROM the earliest Biblical days, the name of Moses has 
been synonymous with the term leadership, and judging 
by its significance in so many worthy instances of this day 
and time, there is no reason to doubt that there is still in 




this name much of its ancient potency. It is tritely said that some men 
are born great, while others have greatness thrust upon them. To 
these two classes there may be added a third class, viz.. those who, 
through the invincible genius of work have surmounted every obstacle 
in their pathway to success, proved equal to every responsibility 
which the exigencies of life have imposed upon them, and made their 
name and fame the common heritage and glory of" their countrymen. 
Thus better than heaven-born genius, yea. better than being born 
great, is the genius of hard and unremitting labor, and that man will 
command the greatest success in life who does not despair because his 
opportunities did not bless him with instruction in college walls, in 
preparation for the highest rewards and honors of life, but who, 
in spite of the lack of such advantages, resolves to work unceasingly 
in the cultivation of his moral, physical and intellectual nature until 
he will have realized in his own personality the best power and 
strength that the Almighty intended him to possess. 

The readers of this book are herein brought face to face with a 
man whose success in life, when contrasted with his lowly origin 
and humble opportunities, seems nearly incredible. In this strong, 
representative and progressive citizen may be seen the fullest 
fruition of that type of American genius which is commonly styled 
the self-made man. Though the subject had no educational advan- 
tages whatsoever, except those which his indomitable will enabled 
him to acquire, yet his almost matchless ability enabled him for 
over a quarter of a century to stand at the head of a great fraternal 
organization, dictate its policies and make it nearly unapproachable 
in the domain of progressiveness and excellence. The name of this 
peerless leader and eminent citizen is none other than Mr. Moses 
A. Clark, of Marianna. Ark.. Fast Grand Master of the Free. 
Ancient and Accepted Masons of the Stat.- of Arkansas. 

His Birthplace. 

The State of Tennessee takes much pride in the nativity of the 
subject of this sketch, for he was born in the borders of that State, 



/./;.,' OX LIGHTS •!' I HE /'./ E 

near Germantown, a suburb of Memphis. August 1.1. 18:>k The 
storms of over seventy-six winters have passed over his head and 
prolonged his useful life far beyond the years of the present 
generation, but Father Time lias dealt very leniently with him, 
and there are indeed few men of his age living today that ean com- 
pare with him in intellectual strength, physical vigor and masculine 
robustness. Instead of being a man in the last stages of senility, 
which condition would be nothing out of the ordinary for a man of 
his advanced years, he seems still in the enjoyment of manhood's 
prime, and bids fair to enjoy many more years of service and 
usefulness to his race. 

A Slave fob a Quarter of a Century. 

Mr. (lark has no hesitation in proclaiming to the world the fact 
that he was not only born a slave, but that he won the badge of 
servitude for a quarter of a century. He has no apology to make 
for the dark days of his servitude, for the glorious blessings of 
freedom have more than compensated him for the servile existence 
he endured. Moreover, he has reason to believe that his former 
involuntary life as a slave enables him today more highly to appre- 
ciate tin blessings of freedom. He was brought from the State of 
Tennessee to Cotton Plant-, Arkansas, in 181}). In the year of 1856 
ii was the fate of the subject to be sold to Mr. S. W. Childress, who 
Si nt him to Helena;, Ark., under the protection and instruction of 
Mr. James M. Alexander. Sr., to learn the mysteries of the tonsorial 
art. That he succeeded in the mastery of the trade is evidenced by 
the fact that he successfully followed the trade in different places 
for many years. In the days of slavery he was not only one of the 
most capable artists in the tonsorial business, but he was also a 
famous pastry cook, and in that capacity his culinary skill delighted 
the palates of a host of passengers whose patronage made life merry 
on the palatial steamers which plied on the Mississippi River in 
those early days. 

I lis Kin i VTION. 

The educational advantages of the subject may be epitomized 
in his own language, when he Says: "I never attended school a 
minute in my life, nor had a lesson from any one. except what I 
picked ii)> by observation." Born as he was in the days o\ slavery, 

it was against the laws of the land to permit slaves to be educated. 

tor the institution of slavery would hav< been imperiled if knowledge 
had been given to the slaves. While do real privileges of educational 
training wen his. yet his various relations as househov. barber and 



BEAGOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 37 

steward constantly threw him in contact with the most intelligent 
classes of the white race, and enabled him incidentally to pick up 
a good working knowledge of letters and reading. How he learned 
to write shows what power resolution has in itself. It was his 
privilege, in the days of his early manhood, to reside in the city of 
Nashville, Tenn.. which city was then, as it is now, a great social 
and intellectual center. It was the home of many attractive and 
charming young women, and. as the subject himself was young and 
handsome to look upon, and anxious to play his part in the enchant- 
ing game of courtship and love, it is needless to state that he was 
the center of a large and admiring circle of friends. This condition 
was well enough as long as he continued to reside in the Rock City, 
but in the course of time it fell to his lot to move from the city of 
Nashville to St. Louis, Mo., and thus leave behind his youthful and 
persistent enamoratas. Then for the first time in his life he felt 
the need of a knowledge of writing, for he must keep in touch with 
his admirers of the fair and gentler sex. It was indeed a bitter 
pill for him to swallaw when he was compelled to hire a French 
bootblack to write for him a letter back home to his best girl. He 
thereupon resolved to do his own writing of love letters after that 
time, and to enable him to do so, he purchased one of the old Blue 
Back Spellers, out of which he laboriously Learned the nature and 
forms of the script. Having learned the formation of the letters 
of the alphabet in script, it was only necessary for him to be shown 
how to join the script together to enable him to do his own writing 
ever afterward. 

Mr. Clark has spent many years of his life "bridging back" over 
subjects which the institution of slavery forbade his knowing. With 
the dawn of freedom he realized to the fullest extent his intellectual 
deficiencies, and endeavored by hard study to remedy them. He was 
not at all embarrassed to be seen eagerly studying the "Three R's," 
nor did he feel disgraced to be seen studying rhetoric and logic 
in order to prepare himself to preside with becoming dignity and 
intelligence over the exalted office to which the unanimous voice 
of his comrades had elevated him. In his laudable ambition to 
prepare his mind for intelligent service as a leader for his people, 
he ran nearly the whole gamut of necessary studies and by his self- 
application and diligence he has attained to a scholarship that is a 
credit not only to one of his lowly origin, but to any man with far 
better opportunities than the subject ever did have. Many a man 
with collegiate training has not done half so well in the great race 
of life as has the worthy subject of this sketch. 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 
Free, Free at Last. 

At the close of the Civil War the Subject again made Helena. 

Ark., his home. As he was a man of intelligence and experience, 
the many opportunities for personal advancement and material gain 
along so many lines were so great that he had every incentive to 
prepare himself to serve his people in various capacities and he did 
fill with eredit several positions of trust and responsibility. 

Aiimittkii to the Bar to Practice Law. 

In tin decade of the seventies the subject became ambitious to 
study law tor the purpose of practicing the legal profession. In 
the prosecution of his law course he became puzzled and perplexed 
by the numerous Latin phrases with which that study teems: so in 
his extremity he went to Judge T. B. Hanly and secured a Latin- 
English dictionary, and applied himself diligently to the mastery 
of those phrases which had produced such consternation in his mind. 
He read law about six hours a day for seven years, and at the 
expiration of that time he went before the Judge and passed the most 
creditable examination of any candidate for several years. He was 
formally admitted to the practice of law and lit still has the legal 
qualification to plead the cause of his countrymen before the bar 
of public justice. His preparation and knowledge of law made him 
a very capable Justice of the Peace, which office he tilled with credit 
for several years. 

His Official Record, 

In the days following the Civil War he had the honor of serving 
as Justice of the Peace in Helena. Arkansas, for nine years. In 
addition to his election as delegate to many political conventions in 
his State, he was honored with election as delegate to the first 
Colored Men's National Convention at Louisville. Ky. These 
honors were conferred upon him thus early in the days of his 
freedom, because the people instinctively saw in him an able and 
worthy citizen and one that would reflect credit upon the race. 

A Mason for Forty-five Years. 

It was in the year of 1 >S(i(> that the subject was initiated into the 
circle of Masonry, and in his long, faithful and honorable career 
with the craft he has filled practically every office in the gift of 
the fraternity. He was the first Junior Deacon of J. M. Alexander 
lodge, and filled in it all of the other official stations except that 
of Tvler. At the organization of the Most Worthy Grand Lodge 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 39 

of Arkansas in the year of 1873 he was elected First Grand Senior 
Deacon, but In- acted as Grand Lecturer for R. \Y. Isaac Coursey, 
who had been elected First Grand Lecturer. His subsequent career 
in Masonry was hut a continuation of its auspicious beginning, for 
he filled many of the offices of trust and responsibility in the gift 
of the Grand Lodge. 

Grand Master for Twenty-five Years. 

When the subject first connected himself with Masonic work it 
was with the intention of some day reaching the top, the most 
exalted office in the gift of the order. His temperament is such 
that he is not satisfied merely to "join in the chorus" of life, but 
he has ever been ambitious to play a leading part in the singing. 
In pursuance of this worthy ambition he studied hard and worked 
hard for the mastery and understanding of the principles of the 
order, and he did this so effectively that way back in the year of 
1881. at its session at Fort Smith, Arkansas, he was unanimously 
elected to the exalted position of Grand Master of the State. This 
responsible position at the head of that fraternity was held for tin- 
unprecedented period of twenty five years before surrendering his 
official toga to a successor. It was not mere luck which for such an 
extraordinary length of time caused him to preside over the destiny 
of this most ancient and most honorable organization, but it was his 
masterly ability that caused him to seize and hold the reins of 
power for a quarter of a century. 

Some Achievements ok His Administration. 

(a) 
Growth in Lodges and Membf.rsiiip. 

At the time of his accession to the throne of Masonic power there 
Mere only thirteen lodges in the State, with a total membership of 
about .'300 Masons, but at the close of his administration of twenty- 
five years, the number of lodges had increased nearly to 300 and 
the total membership to nearly 6,000 of the best and most repre- 
sentative people of the State of Arkansas. 

(b) 
The Endowment Department. 

He was one of the first advocates of the Masonic Benefit Fund, 
and it was through his recommendation and persistent advocacy that 
the endowment feature became one of the beneficent measures of 



40 /■'/.'./' OS UGH I - OF I HE /'./' E 

the order, [ts adoption as one <>t' the cardinal obligations of the 
order was a matter of evolution, because it had to run the gauntlet 
of apprehension, suspicion and fear on the part of some of the 
ablest men in the State. From being merely an optional measure 

at first, it has been incorporated into the very structure of the order, 
and has done untold good in ministering to the cause of benevolence 
and material help to thousands of its members at the most needful 
time of their lives. It is safe to estimate that not less than $200,000 
has been paid to the widows and orphans of the order by this 
department. It is managed in a business-like manner, and is now 
one of the most attractive .is well as one of the most necessary feat- 
ures of the order. The endowment is $"250. 

(c) 
Masonic Templk Building. 

At his suggestion and recommendation, the Grand Lodge of the 
State of Arkansas built the Masonic Temple at Pine Bluff. Arkansas. 
This magnificent structure was erected at a total cost of $65,000. and 
is considered one of the handsomest buildings in the country. It 
is a massive four-storv building of pressed brick, stone and terra 
cotta. and reflects the greatest possible credit upon the Masonic 
fraternity of Arkansas. 

Other High Honors. 

In the year of 1887, at its meeting in the city of Chicago, he 

was unanimously chosen chairman of the National Masonic Congress. 
He was elected and served two terms as Most Excellent Grand High 
Priest of Royal Arch Masons, and in the year of 1890 he was 
received into and acknowledged as a member of the Magnanimous 
and Chivalric Order of Knights Templars. December 8th, 1901, 
at South Me. Mister. I. T.. he had conferred upon himself all the 
"Ancient and Accepted Scottish Kite Degrees of Free Masonry." 
including the Last and thirty third degree, by the illustrious Thorn- 
ton A. Jackson, M. 1'. Sovereign Grand Inspector General for the 
Southern Jurisdiction, I . S. A. 

He Moved to Marianna in 1879- 

Owing to the fact that the climate of Helena was harmful to 
the physical welfare of his wife, Mr. (lark and his estimable wife 
moved from Helena to Marianna in tin- year of I879j when the town 
of Marianna was more like a wilderness than a metropolis. Being 

one of the pioneer citizens of tin- town, it was his importunity ami 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 41 

privilege to "get in on the ground floor" and Lay a solid foundation 
for his present substantial station in life. 

His Lamented Wife. 

October 5th, 1870, -Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss 
Georgia A. Coursey, of Helena. Ark., one of the most faithful 
and one of the best women that ever lived, for forty years they 
walked hand in hand down the road of life, bearing each other's 
burdens and encouraging each other with their fidelity and love. 
Their long life was our of happiness, but it was also one of serious 
responsibility, for the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, entrusted to 
them the precious lives of twenty-three children, all by his one wife. 
This most extraordinary woman was highly intelligent and was 
educated far beyond the standard of her youthful days. She was 
educated at Berea College-, when that famous institution was at its 
zenith, and she lacked but a few months of completing the course in 
that institution. She was carried to her reward April 27, 1910. 
Peace to her ashes. 

Editor ok The Opinion-Enterprise. 

In the year of 1907 the subject entered the arena of journalism 
without any previous training but his own common sense. He has 
acceptably and creditably edited his paper. The Opinion-Enterprise, 
until now it is recognized as one of the leading colored newspapers 
of the State of Arkansas. He is a thinker and a man of such mental 
equipoise as is needed to serve in such a responsible position as 
editor of a colored newspaper in the South. He is conservative 
rather than radical in his ideas and opinions, and believes in appeal- 
ing to the best natures of both races, rather than to their prejudices 
and passions. In the moulding of good sentiment between the two 
races in his State he is past master on the side of conservatism, and 
his timely editorials have often soothed intensified minds and have 
reduced them to sanity and reason. He stands for peace, friendship 
and co-operation between the two races in this Southland, and his 
highest ambition is to conserve the welfare and best interests of 
both. 

His Wealth. 

Fortune has smiled upon the efforts of Mr. Clark, for he is one 
of the most substantial men in his State. He owns stock in the 
Arizona & Arkansas Mining Company. He is one of the largest 
owners of realty in the town of Marianna. He owns six brick 
stores, three substantial residences on the main thoroughfare of the 



42 /.'/:./' <>.Y LIGHTS OF I Hi: BA( E 

town, three pieces of unimproved property , a large two-story 
residence splendidly located, and a farm of 80 acres near Palestine, 
St. Francis County. He is a strong man and highly respected 

citizen in his home town, and no other man of the race is more 
highlv respected .and honored by all classes. 

An Estimate of the Subject. 

Mr. (lark is not only one of the best known men. but he is one 
of the most popular men in the State of Arkansas. He does not 
enjoy an ephemeral popularity, but his personality has become a 
part" of the general worth of the State. He has wrought well for 
the race and its institutions, and he can desire no greater monument 
to his memory than the mighty fraternal institution that is now 
known and honored throughout the land. He is a man that is as big 
in mind as he is in body, and he is in every respect one of nature s 
uoblemen. He is one of the most practical and one of the most 
logical speakers in the State of Arkansas. He is a close reasoner 
and has proved more than a match for some of the most able and 
most brilliant men in his State. It would have been impossible for 
him to have held his exalted office for twenty-rive years if he had 
been backed by superficial talents instead of real merit. There is 
no political policy that can safely entrench a man in popular 
esteem and favor for a quarter of a century unless there is some- 
thing potential both in his character and his ability. He is ot a 
jovial temperament; he is a good neighbor and a good citizen, and 
commands the respect of his fellow citizens of both races. He is 
not a mossback, notwithstanding his advanced years, but his .yes 
are ever turned to the sun of progress, and he is now making as 
much preparation to live as if he were a young man in his prime. 
He is one of the best examples ot' progress and aggressiveness in 
the ranks of the race and the State of his adoption should be eon 
gratulated tor having such a worthy and such a useful man in its 
s« rvice and on the roll of its citizenship. 



BEA( OS Limns OF THE RACE 



43 




If . A. ,/. Morgan, Shelby, Miss. 

Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Stringer Grand Lodge 

of M VSONS. 

HATEVEB may be said concerning the inequalities of 
American life insofar as they affect the destiny and wel- 
fare of the Negro race in this Southland, there can be no 
denial of the fact that thousands of members of the race 
have not been seriously hindered by these conditions in their onward 




II BEACOX UGH I S OF THE RA( I. 

march to race success and progress There are men of sterling char- 
acter and successful achievement all over this Southland, who ask tin- 
world no sympathy because of the fact that they arc black and who 
have no apology to make because their ancestors were oner in invol- 
untary servitude, lor they arc daily demonstrating the fact that life 
with all people is what they will it to he. and that the rewards of 
industry, sobriety, honesty, frugality and the other cardinal virtues 
of character are the same for all men. he they rich or poor, high or 
low. white or black. Among the high class, successful leaders of the 
race in the State of Mississippi, no other man is entitled to more 
credit and honor than Mr. W. A. J. Morgan, of Shelby, Miss., the 
exalted leader of the Masonic fraternity of that State. 

His Birthplace and Education. 

On February the second, in the year of 1859, the worthy and 
honored subject of this narrative first saw the light of day in the 
village of Augusta, Perry County, Mississippi. Horn as he was 
amidst a farming environment, his educational advantages were 
limited in comparison with those of many other highly successful 
men of the present day, and this very fact makes his ability and 
prominence as a puhlic leader only the more creditable. His educa- 
tional advantages were restricted to the irregular and uncertain 
terms of the puhlic and private schools of his home community in 
the days of his youth. lie was reared on the farm, and had to win 
his diploma of graduation with his muscle from the soil, instead ot 
winning it with his intellect from some proud and pampered alma 
mater. The university of life is the main school from which Mr. 
Morgan has graduated, and in this school he has won a recognition 
and standing that have been conferred upon few that are even 
loaded down with college degrees and inscribed sheepskins. He is 
a man of the highest intelligence and really makes up in native 
ability what he may lack in scholastic attainments. He is a man 
that is thoroughly educated in the ways of the world, ami thus is 
well prepared for the exigencies of practical lite. 

A Progressive Farmer. 

As proud as Mr. Morgan ought to he because ot the exalted 
position that he holds in the esteem and affections of his people, yet 
In- is without doubt equally as proud of the noble occupation ot 
farming, of which he is one of the worthiest exponents. Not only 
was he reared on a farm, hut the occupation ot farming has heen the 
main work of his eventful life. He is a farmer in independent 
Circumstances, and just such a tanner as the nation needs to pro 

mote its welfare and prosperity. He owns two farms, with a total 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 45 

of 127 acres of fertile land. One of these farms is in Sunflower 
County, and the other is in Boliver County, about two miles from 
Shelby, -Miss., his home town. His Farming lands arc in the main 
cultivated by tenants, because the fraternal and business interests 
of Mr. Morgan render it impossible for him to engage actively in 
the management of his farming affairs. 

The Leader of the Masons. 
For nearly twenty years Mr. Morgan has been identified with the 
Masonic fraternity of his native Slate, and much of the prestige 
and power of that organization has been due to liis untiring fidelity 
and zeal. He has ever been an indefatigable worker in the coun- 
cils of the order, and the final reward of his labors is the leadership 
of the order in his native State. 13 y slow and honorable gradations 
he has come from the bottom to the topmost round of the ladder of 
Masonry, and in his long and honorable career with the craft he has 
filled with credit the following offices: Grand Sword Bearer for 
five years; Grand Junior Warden for three years; Grand Senior 
Warden for one year; Deputy Grand Master for six years and eight 
months, and District Grand Master for eight years. So faithfully. 
honorably and creditably did he serve in these various capacities that 
in the fullness of time, by the nearly unanimous vote of his fellow 
craftsmen, he was elevated to the highest office in their gift. The 
culmination of his success in fraternity work was experienced in 
the month of December. ]<)1(). in the town of Holly Springs. Miss. 
The exalted office to which Mr. Morgan was elevated had been the 
ambition of many of the ablest men of the order in the State, but 
Mr. Morgan was easily the choice of the members of the order from 
almost every section of the State to succeed the lamented Bishop 
E. W. Lampton as Grand Master of the State of Mississippi. Mr. 
Morgan was the unanimous choice of the members of the order from 
the delta section of the State, and the cohorts of the order in the delta 
went to the town of Holly Springs with the grim determination to 
bring back with them for one of their distinguished fellow citizens 
the exalted office of Grand Master of the State of Mississippi, and 
they bore down upon the forces of the opposition with the irresistible 
force of the Macedonian phalanx of ancient times. The fidelity of 
their united action and the worthiness of their candidate rendered 
all opposition to them futile, and the result was a glorious victory 
for their cause. 

Membership and Growth of the Order. 

The Masonic fraternity of the State of Mississippi represents as 

much intelligence, wealth and character as can be found in an} 

high class fraternal organization in any State of the Federal Union. 

In its councils are found men that are i mint nt for their learning, 



46 BEAi <>.\' LIGHTS OF THE BAi E 

piety and business aggressiveness, and it is do mistake to declare 
any one to be a fortunate man to be thus so signally honored by his 
fellows. The name of Mason is one to conjure with in most any 
country of the civilized world, but when it is applied to the Negroes 
of the State of Mississippi, it is the synonym for everything that is 
worthy, progressive and uplifting to the race. 

The growth of the fraternity in the State of Mississippi has kept 
pace with the progress of the race in intelligence and wealth. 
Masonry stands tor intelligence and high character, and it welcomes 
to its ranks only those who fulfill these requirements. Men that 
are ordinarily acceptable to the ranks of many of the other fraterni- 
ties would not be admitted into fellowship with the Masonic fra- 
ternity. While the growth of the order has been phenomenal as to 
numbers, at the same time it has had a gratifying growtl) along the 
line of intelligence and moral worth. From the standpoint of high 
character, influence, intelligence and wealth, the Masonic fraternity 
stands at the head of fraternal organizations of the race. So great 
has been its growth in numbers that there are in the State of Mis- 
sissippi not less than 15,000 or 1 6,000 members of tin- craft. The 
fraternity is a militant organization, and is conquering the intelli- 
gence and wealth of the race. 

Its Endowment l'oi.n v. 

One of the most substantial features of the Masonic fraternity 
of Mississippi is the generous sum of money that is devoted tor 
endowment protection. Its endowment policy is $700, and the 
resource s of the order are of such a character as to enable it to 
carrv out to the letter every obligation that it may contract. For 
this purpose a large sum of money is disbursed annually, and to 
the same extent are the sufferings and miseries of the fratcrnitv s 
bereaved ones speedily and certainly relieved. 

Comparison With His Predecessors. 

Some remarkable men have graced with their talents and dignity 
the exalted office of (.mid Master of the Masonic fraternity ^( 
the State of Mississippi. The immediate predecessor ol Mr. 
Morean, Bishop E. W. Lampton, was one of the foremost men of 
his day m more respects than one, but the difference between the 
two men was more a difference in quality than quantity of talents. 
Mr. Morgan has every necessarj equipment for a successful leader 

of tin race. lie is an honest man and therefore will have an honest 
administration; he is also i business man. and therefore will have 

a business administration. He is a map of sound judgment, quick 



BEAC03 LIGHTS OF THE RACE 17 

perception and unflinching courage in what he believes to be right. 
He has the knack of doing things well and getting substantia] 

results in whatever he attempts. He is an admirable presiding 
officer, and can wield the gavel as effectively and with as much 
dignity as he can hoe a row or plow a furrow, for his hands are 
horny with incessant and honorable toil. Mr. Morgan does not hold 
a diploma from a school of oratory, hut he is an effective and con- 
vincing speaker, and his plain, unaffected and logical reasoning 
has done much to establish him as a solid .and influential man among 
the members of the craft. He is a credit and an ornament to the 
fraternity, and no backward step was made by the members of the 
order when they, with practical unanimity, elevated him to its 
leadership. 

His Popularity. 

Mr. Morgan is easily one of the most popular men in the borders 
of the State of Mississippi, and he stands as high in the. real affec- 
tions of the members of his race as he stands in popular favor. In 
his home town and county he enjoys the appreciation, confidence and 
esteem of all classes, irrespective of race, and both whites and blacks 
rejoiced when it was first known that such a great honor had been 
conferred upon one of their fellow townsmen. He is a good mixer 
among the masses of the race, and in this respect he has an ideal 
equipment for the leadership of a great fraternity. He is not only 
a Mason of the highest degree, but he is identified in an honorable 
way with other representative fraternities iji his State. In fact, he 
commands the respect and best wishes of all classes of his fellow 
citizens, and is considered one of the leaders of the race, not only in 
fraternity circles, but in the whole domain of excellence pertaining 
to the race 

His Rack Investments. 

Mr. Morgan is a race man to the core, and no better evidence of 
this fact can be adduced than his various investments in race enter- 
prises. He is a stockholder of the banners' I'liion. a mercantile and 
tailoring establishment of Greenwood. Mississippi. He is a stock- 
holder in the Bank of Mound Bayou. Miss., one of the flourishing 
financial institutions of the delta. He is a stockholder of' the 
Mound Bayou Oil Mill Manufacturing Company, a corporation 
that is capitalized at si 00. ()()(). and is said to lie the only enterprise 
of its kind in America. H<- is a stockholder of tin- Union Guaranty 
Insurance Company of Mississippi, a general bonding and insurance 
company, which seems to have a prosperous future in looking after 
fiduciary affairs of the race. He is also a stockholder of the Mis- 
sissippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company of Mississippi, an insti- 



48 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

tution that seems destined to be the greatest life insurance company 
that was \« r promoted in the interest of the race. 

His Wealth. 

Life has been no flowery bed of ease for Mr. Morgan, for he has 

«\tr been a bard and indefatigable worker: but fortune lias smiled 
upon his labors and sacrifices and he is now one of the prosperous 
and wealthy men of his native State. In addition to his valuable 
farming lands in the delta, he has splendid property both in Shelby 
and in Gulfport, Miss. His residence in the town of Shelby is 
commodious in size and modern in construction, and thoroughly in 
harmony with a man in his circumstances and station in life. It 
has been but recently built, and it embodies in its construction 
everything that is consistent with elegance, taste and comfort. 

His Splendid Wife. 
In the year of 188b' it was the good fortune of Mr. Morgan to 
woo and win for life's partnership Miss Rena Cannichael. who has 
proved to be one of the greatest blessings of his life. His estimable 
wife is highly esteemed for her domestic virtues, and she is a 
perfect helpmeet for her husband. She is highly intelligent, eco- 
nomical and industrious, and she is the responsible manager of the 
affairs of her husband when he is away from home in the perform- 
ance of his public duties. For several years she has faithfully 
looked after her husband's interests and demonstrated to the world 
the capacity of women in business affairs. Whatever may be the 
worldly accumulation of Mr. Morgan, his greatest earthly treasure 
must ever be his energetic, faithful and devoted wife, who in sickm SS 
and in health, in prosperity and in adversity, has ministered to his 
necessities, managed his vast interests and prepared him for the 
realization of his present position of influence and honor. Too 
much praise and honor can not be bestowed upon Mrs. Morgan, for 
sin- is made of the material of which great women and heroines are 
made. 

Addenda. 
Mr. Morgan is a kind, courteous, affable gentleman: he is 
of approach and in thorough accord with the best traditions and 
ideals of the race. He is not a weakling in any department of life, 
but, on tin- contrary, he is a strong man in the church, a general 
favorite in fraternal circles, and a positive factor in business life. 
He is a progressive man. and is not afraid to take hold of any 
proposition that is conceived and fostered for the interest and wel- 
fare of his race. lie is one of tin strong pillars of the Baptist 

( hureh and a man of influence in social life in general. He is a 

man that is capable of achieving tin greatest sueeess in most of tin 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



1" 



avenues of life, and it is the unqualified opinion of those that know 
him that he will successfully pilot the old Masonic ship safe to tin- 
opposite shore. The Masonic fraternity honored itself and the 




MRS. W. A. I MORGAN AM) RESII)KN< I 



whole State of Mississippi when it elevated to its leadership that 
prince of affable, kindly and progressive gentlemen, Grand Master 
W. A. J. Morgan, of Shelby, Mississippi. 



50 



BEACON LIGHTS OF I Hi: BAi E 





Prof. II'. J. Nickerson, Sen- Orleans. La. 
Principal of the Music Department of Southern University. 

USIC is called the divine artj and its sweetness has 

appealed to the minds and hearts of the human race in 
all periods of the world's history. This being the case, 
fortunate indeed is that man who has succeeded in build- 
ing up in his community the true musical spirit and dedicating it 
to the welfare and happiness of his fellow citizens. Probably th. 
Inst known and most popular musician in the city of New Orleans. 
I.a.. and the one that has done most to systematize and popularize 

the study of music among the lust classes of his fellow townsmen 
is that sphndid teacher, arranger and violinist, Prof. \\ . .'. 

Nickerson. 



Ill- Birthplace. 

'I'h. subject of this sketch is a native of the city of New Orleans, 
I.a.. and lias resided there all of his lit'.-. II.- is thoroughly con- 
versant with the historx and traditions of th.' Crescent City, and 
contributed much to its development along musical and social lines. 



BE AC OS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 51 

His Education. 

Prof. Nickerson received his elementary training in the city 
schools of New Orleans, and his academic education at Straight 
University, of the same city. At an early age he took up the study 
of music under some of the most capable instructors in the city of 
New Orleans; he also took a course of instructions under one of the 
celebrated teachers from the Conservatory of Paris, France. 

Out in Life. 

After the subject had completed his literary course, he sought 
employment in one of the music stores of his city for the purpose 
of learning the art of piano tuning. In perfecting himself in this 
art he remained in the business for several years, and finally 
began to teach the art of music. In the year of 1891 he was 
appointed to the head of the music department of Southern Univer- 
sity. New Orleans. La., and has filled with credit this honorable 
position ever since. 

His Famous Young Ladies' Orchestra. 

In the year of 1895, Prof. Nickerson organized the Young Ladies' 
Orchestra of New Orleans, and thus created for the music loving 
public of his native city one of its greatest attractions. He carried 
his famous orchestra to the North, and played a highly successful 
engagement to unprecedented audiences in Chicago, 111. His experi- 
ence in the North was similar to a continuous ovation. The professor 
carried his orchestra to the Young Peoples' Congress at Atlanta, 
Ga.. and his experience there was lint a repetition of bis former 
experience in the North. 

A Successful Teacher. 

Prof. Nickerson is a successful teacher of orchestra, piano and 
vocal music. His success in training youth has been unusual. He 
is a violinist of ability, but his public exhibitions now are rare. 
He prefers to shine through the excellence of his pupils, of whom 
he has a host to make his worthy name enduring. He has made the 
city of his nativity a vast conservatory of gifted pupils, whose 
excellence will perpetuate bis memory and cause him to be con- 
sidered one of the greatest benefactors to the race. 

A Musical Family. 

It is but natural that every member of the professor's family 
should be a devotee at the shrine of the divine art of music. Miss 
Camille L. Nickerson. his estimable daughter is a first-class accom- 



52 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RAl E 

panist. and she has had the honor of accompanying most of the 
prima donnas and other artists that have visited the city of New 
Orleans in late years. She has accompanied the gifted Madam 
Hacklev. .Madam Am ta Patti Brown. Prof. Joseph H. Douglass and 
Prof. Cameron ^W'liitt-. She studied music under her father, and for 
some time under the instruction of a professor from the Conserva- 
tory of Paris. Prance. With the realization of the dream of her life 
to win a diploma of graduation from the Boston Conservatory of 
Music, the world will hear a great deal more about the splendid 
ability of this talented and worthy young woman. 

His Lamented Wife. 

The departed companion of Prof. Xickerson was. before her 
marriage, a Miss Julia Ellen Lewis, the talented and accomplished 
daughter of Col. James Lewis of New Orleans, who was at one 
time Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans. She was a pianist, a 
violinist, a cellist and arranger of music, and she was of invalu- 
able assistance to her husband in his musical work. 

Conclusion. 

The life of Prof. Xickerson has been one of ceaseless activity. 
He is a pleasant and congenial citizen, and just the type of manhood 
that can dignify music and put it upon that pedestal on which it 
belongs. He is a man of modesty, notwithstanding the fact that he 
is the premier music teacher in the city of New Orleans. It is a 
pleasure to the writer to bestow this humble testimonal upon the 
excellence of Prof. Xickerson. both as a first-class man and citizen. 



cj^ 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 53 



Prof. J. T. Strong, Itta Bena, Miss. 

Principal of Itta Bena Colored Graded School and Secretary- 
Treasurer of the I. O. I. Benefit Association. 

O BE a man that is useful and serviceable to his race, his 
country and the cause of humanity , is t'ar better than to be 
considered a great man, for it has long since passed into 
the domain of proverbs that it is better to be a good man 




than to be a great man. In the honored subject of this sketch there 
is presented to the race in this Southland a serviceable man, a useful 
man, a good man, and in many respects a great man. He has been 
tried in the crucible of service for his people, and his fidelity to the 
interests of his race has ever been as true as the needle to the pole. 

His Nativity and Parentage. 

The worthy subject of this sketch is a native of the State of 
Mississippi and was born near Columbus, May Hi. 1866, a full year 
after the Civil War. His mother and father, Peyton Strong and 
Mrs. Jennie Strong, were slaves in ante-bellum times, and suffered 
the same fate that thousands of others of the race suffered as a 
consequence of slavery. They had not the blessings of education, 
but they did have an instinctive idea of its benefits, and they worked 
hard to earn money with which to educate their children. His 
parents had many of the qualities that always command success. 
They worked unceasingly, practiced economy and thrift, and always 
had something to show for their labors. The son inherited many 
of the admirable traits of his parents, for he lias well used the days 
of his life and has succeeded in accumulating a generous supply of 
the goods of this world. 

His Education. 

His rudimentary education was received in the public schools of 
Monroe and Panola Counties. Having attended the common schools 
of his native State until lit 1 had reached his sixteenth year, he was 
sent to Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss., in the year of 1882, 
and remained a student in the classic walls of that institution for 
four years. His health having become impaired, he was physically 
unable to continue in college for the purpose of completing the 
regular classical course. He had to continue his studies in the great 
university of the outside world and win his diploma of proficiency 
therein. His literary training at Rust University prepared him to 



54 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




PRO! • AND MRS, J. T. SI RONG 

Rl S DJ mi 01 I K ( > i . AND MRS. STRONG, I1IA Bl \.\. MISS. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 55 

serve effectively the interests of his race, and he went forthwith 
out into the battles of life to right his way to success and honor. 

His Career as a Schoolmaster. 

Prof. Strong began his career in the teachers' profession in 
Panola County in the year of 1882. when he was a youth of sixteen 
years. For nearly thirty years he has faithfully served his people 
and has been a source of inspiration to thousands of young men 
and young women of the race to strive to make of themselves that 
which would be a credit and honor to themselves and the race. For 
nearly a generation he has been one of the most prominent public 
school teachers in the State of Mississippi. For four years he was 
principal of the Greenwood Colored Graded School and for thirteen 
years or more he has creditably filled his present position at the 
head of the Itta Bena Colored Graded School. 

Prominent in Religious Circles. 

He is a faithful and ardent member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and prominently connected with the work of the Epworth 
League. He is President of the Epworth League of the Greenville 
District of the Upper Mississippi Conference. He had the honor 
of being a member of the General Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, which met in the city of Baltimore. Md., in 1908. 

Secretary-Treasurer of the I. O. I. Benefit Association. 

Prof. Strong is one of the leading fraternity men of the State 
of Mississippi, and stands high in the confidence and esteem 
of the Independent Order of Immaculates. In the year of 1908 
he was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the I. O. I. Benefit Associa- 
tion, and in the year of 1910 he was re-elected to the same office 
for a period of four years, or until 1914. As Treasurer of this 
growing organization he collects about $3,000 quarterly for its 
benefit fund. 

A Successful Business Man. 

Prof. Strong has made an enviable name, not only in the teachers' 
profession, but in the arena of business life. He combines the 
careful, painstaking, devoted teacher with the progressive and 
aggressive business man. He has the faculty of making money 
and prospering when many others are bewailing the fates because 
of hard times. He is an experienced real estate dealer and specu- 
lator and is thus regarded as an authority in land investments. He 
is one of the substantial property owners of his town. In addition 
to his own elegant residence, he owns seven other houses and lots. 



5 , /;/.'./< <>.X LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

He is a man that is in comfortable circumstances and is rated ;h one 
of the wealthiest nun of the race in his home community. 

His Energetic and Devoted Wife. 

The subject of this sketch has succeeded in everything that he 
has ever undertaken, hut one of the greatest successes of his life 
was when he was so fortunate as to win the heart and hand of his 
devoted and faithful wife. She was a Miss Elizabeth Whitehead, 
of Greenwood. Mississippi, and was educated in the schools of 
Greenwood. To the fond parents was horn a hright son. with seem- 
ingly a brilliant future. This brilliant young man first graduated 
at Rust University and subsequently decided to he a physician, but 
it was not the will of benign Providence to permit that life to 
realize its ambition, for the grim Reaper carried this son to his 
reward August 28, 1909. 

.Mrs.. Strong is Grand Permanent Scribe of the I. (). I. and also 
Most Noble Governess of the Houseohold of Ruth, No. 3931, of 
Itta Pena. Miss. She is an earnest worker in the uplift of her 
people and a great assistance to her husband in his onerous duties 
as Treasurer, real estate dealer and general, all-round business 
man. 

He Enjoys Universal Esteem. 

Very few men have so firm a place in the esteem, appreciation 

and honor of their fellow citizens, irrespective of race, as has the 
subject of this sketch. Whites and blacks alike proclaim him to 
be an ideal citizen. He is a shrewd business man and an enterpris- 
ing hustler. lie has the happy faculty of making and retaining 
friends, and thus constantly adding to their number. In any 
application of the term. Prof. Strong is an able, high-class represcn 
tative ni the race. His standing among his people is unimpeachable 
and he is looked upon with appreciation and favor by all the people 
of his community, without regard to race. In all the elements of 
progress he is considered one of the very first citizens of Itta Beua, 
and he has the o-, )( „] sense to endeavor to deserve the best from til bis 
fellow citizens. He has achieved great things in the estimation ot 
the members ot' his race, and the hope ot' his friends is that he will 
continue in his laudable ways until he attains to the pinnae] : nf 
race success. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 57 

A. J. Oakes, Yazoo City, Miss. 

Building Contractor and Proprietor of Oakes Lumber Yard. 

T SOMETIMES happens that the very name of a man is 
suggestive of his life and synonymous of his character. 
Such, indeed is the case in the life and character of the 
worthy and eminently successful man whose life story is 
portrayed in this narrative, for in a figurative sense he is a veritable 
gigantic oak. whose deep roots have defied the storms of half a cen- 
tury, penetrated the soil of service and usefulness to his race, and 
gained for him lasting appreciation, unusual honor and great wealth. 

His Nativity and Parents. 

The subject of this sketch, Prof. A. J. Oakes, is a native of the 
city in which he has risen to the first rank tn influence, wealth and 
honor, and first beheld the light of day March 22, 1854. He wa- 
in many respects a fortunate youth, for his parents were energetic 
and thrifty, and possessed all those virtues of character which an- 
at the foundation of successful achievement in American life. His 
parents, John and Mary Oakes, were born in Columbia, S. C. His 
father was free from birth and thus enjoyed privileges and oppor- 
tunities that would have been impossible otherwise. He was a 
mechanic in the early days, and he taught his son the trade in which 
he is such a leading factor in the contracting world. The dear 
mother of the subject was an exceptional woman, and had all of 
the virtues of the Roman matron of old. She not only worked hard 
and unremittingly to purchase her own time from her master, but 
she succeeded in purchasing the time of her children at the rate of 
twenty dollars per month by washing, ironing and running a board- 
ing house. Her extraordinary energy and determination were 
transmitted to her son. for he has worked hard, struggled and suc- 
ceeded as have very few men of the race in any section of this 
country. 

The Story of His Education. 

The student career of Prof. Oakes is of absorbing interest and 
worthy of the most careful perusal. In the year of 1863, when 
he was a mere lad of tender years and when the shot and shell of 
mortal combat between the blue and the gray were tailing thick 
and fast in the city of Yicksburg. Miss., lie attended the high school 
in that city, and from the beginning he had the honor of Leading his 
class. In the year of 1866 his parents moved back to Yazoo City 



5i 



/' ".v LIGH1 - OF THE RA( E 




\ [. OAKE! 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 59 

and sent their son to a private school in that city until the year of 
1870. In the year of INTO, when he was a lad of sixteen years, he 
successfully passed the examination for admission to the State 
Normal School at Holly Springs, Miss. 1 laving been admitted as a 
student in the State institution, his splendid scholarship hecame so 
apparent to the faculty that he gained a year's credit in class work 
in the short period of three weeks' time, and as a result he was 
promoted to the most advanced class in the school. He completed 
both the regular and the optional course in the State Normal School 
June 4, 1874, and he thus had the honor of being one of the earliest 
graduates of a reputable institution of learning in the South. 

His Career as a Schoolmaster. 

The subject of this sketch had studied hard when a student, 
and had thoroughly prepared himself to serve his people, His edu- 
cation was to he devoted to the elevation and advancement of his 
benighted people, for those were indeed dark days that formed the 
first decade after the civil war. Having graduated at an unusually 
early period in the freedom of the race, it may be stated, without 
any probability of successful contradiction, that he was one of the 
pioneer educators of native birth and first-class education in the 
State of Mississippi. Emerging from the ravages and desolation of 
war. there was but little educated material among the colored people 
of the State of Mississippi in the early part of the 70's. At least 
there was but little education among the native born element of the 
colored population. 

As soon as he had received his diploma of graduation from the 
State Normal School, he went home and announced his readiness for 
service as principal of a school. He went about securing a school 
in his characteristic manner. He wrote to seventy-five counties in 
the State for a position as principal of a school. In the course of 
time he received favorable replies from ten or more superintendents, 
but the prospects pleased him to accept the principalship of Green 
Hill High School, Sardis. Miss., which position paid him a salary of 
$100.00 per month. Having served in that capacity for four 
years and demonstrated his ability to succeed in his chosen pro- 
fession, Prof. Oakes was elected to the Principalship of the Yazoo 
City Graded School in the year of 1877, and successfully managed 
this school for seven years, or until his resignation in 1884. 

After severing his relationship with the public schools of his 
native city, he founded and organized Oakes Academy, of which 
he was principal, and he served in that capacity for sixteen years, 
or until the year of 1000. when he voluntarily abandoned the teach- 
ers' profession, after nearly thirty years of devoted and consecrated 
service in the uplift of his people. 



60 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE 11. U i: 

From Schoolmaster to Lumber King. 

Attn- quitting the school room, Prof. Oakes began his highly suc- 
cessful and spectacular career as a business man and contractor. In 

the davs of his youth he had worked at the carpenter's trade under 
his father, and was well qualified to succeed along that line, so it 
was but natural that he should engage in general contracting, then 
in real estate ventures, and finally in tne lumber business. As a 
first-class business man Prof. Oakes is one of the race's best exam- 
ples of success. He was a pioneer, not only in the teachers' pro- 
fession in his State, but in the lumber business as well. It is 
difficult for the average mind of the race to comprehend the mag- 
nitude of the lumber business that is carried on by Prof. Oakes, 
for it is hardly probable that such a plant can be duplicated in 
the ranks of the race in this whole country. He is the proprietor 
of one of the largest and one of the most complete lumber yards in 
the State of Mississippi. He employs expert and experienced lum- 
ber inspectors, whose assurance to the patronizing public is a guar- 
antee that the output of the yard will be up to every first-el.is-. 
requirement of the builder's profession. The Oakes lumber yard 
carries a complete assortment of lumber for all purposes. It has 
in stock doors, sash, blinds, dressed flooring, mouldings, finished 
lumber and every variety of building material. 

Value and Volume of His Business. 

So far as the writer is informed. Prof. Oakes is the proprietor 
of the only mammoth lumber yard in this whole country. During 
the first year of his experience in the lumber business he did not 
have the pleasure and honor of selling a dollar's worth of lumber 
to members of the white race; but so business-like have been his 
dealings, and such a Large and well assorted stock of lumber and 
building material does he carry, that two-thirds of his patronage is 
now from members of the dominant race. His plant is large and 
the estimated value of his stock of Lumber from time to time is 
aboul $35,000.00. In the course of a year the volume o( busine 
that is don.' by him will amount to $60,000.00. 



sS 



'I'm: Leading Colored Contractor of Yazoo City. 

The subject of this sketch is the Leading building contractor in 
Yazoo City. Among the many subs! antial buildings that he has 
constructed in his home city may he mentioned the Va/.oo City 
Graded School for the colored people. This school building is 
perhaps the most elegant and most attractive one in the State ot 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 61 

Mississippi that is devoted to the education of the colored youth iii 
the public school system. It is a modern, commodious structure, and 
was erected by Prof. Oakes at a total cost of $15,000.00. 

A Popular, Clean and Reliable Max. 

The popularity of Prof. Oakes is general among all classes of 
both races in his community. From the early days of his career as 
a schoolmaster down to the present time he has been universally 
esteemed and honored as one of the cleanest, one of the most reliable 
and one of the most popular men in the ranks of the race. His 
business record in his home city is one of undeviating success, and 
his life among his fellow citizens has ever been one to be emulated 
by the youth of the race. He is a quiet, unpretentious gentleman 
in spite of the fact that he is one of the leading men of his race in 
the State of Mississippi. 

A Merited Compliment From Ex-Gov. Vardaman. 

Prof. Oakes is not a politican, nor has he ever had any aspirations 
along political lines. He has been content to work hard, save his 
money, attend strictly to his business and let the elusive and delusive 
game of politics severely alone. He believes that the Negro will 
become a great factor in the development of the South by taking no 
part in political agitation and strife, and by educating himself, 
accumulating property and acquiring a bank account. He believes 
that the Negro must concentrate his energies along material 
lines and eschew politics if he ever desires to get in possession of 
the great legacy that the salubrious climate and fertile soil of this 
Southland have bequeathed to him. 

The following tribute to Prof. Oakes from the trenchant pen of 
ex-Governor Vardaman, and published in the governor's paper, tells 
its own story: 

"Yazoo City furnished an incident, some days since, that should 
prove of interest. The city council offered for sale bonds in the 
amount of $15,000 for the purpose of constructing a school build- 
ing for the Negroes. When the bids for these bonds were opened 
i!: was found that A. J. Oakes, a Negro citizen of Yazoo County, 
had made the best bid. They were promptly awarded him. Oakes 
is said to be a hard-working Negro, who eschews politics, attends 
to his own business and has succeeded in gathering together a con- 
siderable supply of this world's goods. While this was taking place 
in the State of Mississippi, there was another hunch of Negroes, 
from the State, in Chicago, who were attempting to gain recognition 
from the Republican Convention. Mississippi needs more such 



62 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Negroes like Oakes and fewer of the other kind. The good Negro 
will always have a place." 

His Faithful and Devoted Wife. 

Tin' estimable and devoted wife of Prof. Oakes was forrnerly 
Miss Emma I.. Johnson of Yazoo City. She attended Oakes Acad- 
emy and finally completed her education at Tongaloo University. 
Tiny were united in the holy bonds of wedlock in the year of 1900, 
and their married life lias been ideal in its faithfulness and happi- 
ness. If Prof. Oakes. seemingly, in the last few years, has taken on 
new life and renewed business activity, it has been due to the inspira- 
tion ind encouragement that he has ever received from his wife, who 
is in his presence all smiles and sunshine. She is a woman that is as 
talented as she is devoted to her husband's interests, and just the 
hind of wife that is needed to guarantee the continuance of his 
success. Three children are the happy fruits of their matrimonial 
union. Alma, Conrad and John. 

His Two Talented Daughters. 

By the union with his first wife, who was a .Miss A. A. Hendrix, 
of Uniontown. Ala., two daughters were born. One of the daugh- 
ters, Mrs. Mary A. Saxton, of Chicago, 111., is a graduate of Atlanta 
University, and at one time taught in the Yazoo City graded school. 
In the year of 1910 she abandoned the profession of teaching and 
was united in marriage to Mr. W. H. Saxton of Chicago, who is a 
clerk in the postoffice of that city. Miss Annie D. Oakes is also a 
graduate of Atlanta University , and is now a teacher in the public 
schools of LaGrange, Georgia. Both of them were given the advan- 
tages of the best educational training, and they arc in every respect 
a monument to the devotion of their kind father and an ornament 
to the race. 

The Wealthiest Colored Citi/en of Yazoo City. 

Prof. Oakes is a modest, un assuming man. and would not think 
of voluntarily publishing his wealth to the world. It is a matter of 
record, however, that he is one of the largest property holders in 
YazOO City. He owns a substantial brick store and some \ery valu- 
able property on the principal street ol' the city. He also has a 
great deal of tenement property in many parts of the city. lor 
years he has (halt extensively in real estate, and he has acquired 
holdings that amount to a great sum. He is a business man in 
Mich affluent circumstances tint he is able "to pay as he goes It 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

is believed by people who have fair judgment in such matters that 
Prof. Oakes is worth considerably more than $100,000. He made 
his money in a legitimate manner. He improved his opportunities 
when times were more or less flourishing in the city of his nativity 
and he then laid the foundation of one of the largest personal for- 
tunes in the ranks of the race in the city of Mississippi. 

A Race Leader. 

Prof. Oakes makes no assumption of race leadership, but he 
undoubtedly is one of the race's most progressive men. He does 
not believe in political activity on the part of the race, for he thinks 
that the colored man has everything to lose when he persists in exer- 
cising his political rights in an ostentatious manner. He believes 
that in the peaceful pursuits of labor and away from the strife and 
turmoil of politics lies the future welfare of the Negro. Prof. Oakes 
represents the conservative element of the race, and his great success 
in every field of activity in which he has ever been engaged demon- 
strates the wisdom of his views on the question that is so fraught 
with significance for all the people of this sunny Southland, white 
and black alike. 




I -I 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




Victor P. Thomas, New Orleans, La. 



C'rsToMs St n\ i( y. 




HK well-known and popular subject of this .sketch was 
born in the parish of Ascension, in the State of Louisiana, 
on February 1 1. 1863. His revered mother; whose maiden 
name was Mathilde Brierrc. was at an early age united in 
marriage to Alcide Thomas, whose ancestors were natives of the isl- 
and of St. Domingo. Contrary to the usual order of things in those 
days, the father and mother of the subject had the honor of being 
married in the Catholic church of Donaldsonvillej I. a., and the nup- 
tial knot was tied with ceremonies befitting such a solemn occasion. 
The result of this union was twelve children, equally divided as to 
sex, Mr. Thomas being the fourth link in the family chain. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 65 

His Education. 

The first school attended by the subject was a private school 
taught by the daughter of a white planter in the youth's neighbor- 
hood. While attending this school he wrote his first letter to his 
mother, in order for her to see how nicely he was progressing. His 
mother carefully treasured this letter, kept it until he was grown, 
and returned it to him with the cherished hope that he would thus 
use his talent for some worthy purpose throughout his life, an 
admonition which he has endeavored to keep sacred to this day. 

It was not the happy privilege of Mr. Thomas to enjoy the splen- 
did educational advantages which so many thousands of young 
people nowadays enjoy, for the actual work of the subject in the 
school room as a pupil came to a close when he was in his fourteenth 
year. The impairment of the health of his father made it necessary 
for him to quit school and make his own way as best he «could ; but 
it did not mean that the youth would have to give up the ambition 
to store his mind with knowledge. Having secured employment 
with a wealthy planter, a new vista of possibility for the cultivation 
of his mind was opened up to him, for the planter's kindly wife took 
a personal interest in his efforts to educate himself, provided him 
with books suitable for his needs, and instructed him along many 
lines that were not clear to his understanding. While it was true 
that he could not attend school, yet he could at his own home have 
a school of his own. For several years he diligently and unceasingly 
read, thought, experimented and trained his powers of mind, inspired 
by the encouragement and devotion of his dear mother, who was 
ever the refuge of his youth and the consolation of his maturer 
years. 

In the Teachers' Profession. 

In the year of 1881 Mr. Thomas was advised and encouraged by 
an old friend to take the examination and apply for appointment 
to fill a vacancy which had just occurred in the public school of his 
town. He was successful and was appointed to the position. He 
remained in the school system without further examination until 
the year of 1885, whereupon the entire teaching force was required 
by the powers that were to undergo a re-examination. In this gen- 
eral examination Mr. Thomas made the highly creditable average 
of 97-85 per cent., which was one of the best in the records of the 
examining board. The highly satisfactory work that was done in 
the school room by him for so many years so favorably impressed 
the school board that he was promoted to the principalship of Don- 



66 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE BAt E 

aldsonville Academy, the high school of the parish for colored chil- 
dren, where he remained for more than ten years, or until 1903. 

A Government Employe. 

In the year of 1900 Mr. Thomas served as census enumerator, 
and at the conclusion of his work he was highly complimented by 
the census supervisor for his efficiency in the service. At one time 
he was a deputy collector of internal revenue, and served in the 
sugar branch of that department as weigher and sampler until that 
branch was closed. His services were of such a character as to merit 
his receiving generous praise from the collector of internal revenue. 

In the year of 1903 Mr. Thomas resigned his position in the 
schools of Donaldsonville for the purpose of entering the service of 
the United States government. He accepted a position in the 
customs service tendered to him by Hon. Henry McCall. Collector 
of the Port of New Orleans, La. His first position was merely an 
appointive one, but in a few months after his first assignment he 
took the civil service examination and had the honor of passing the 
most creditable examination at that time, and he far surpassed in 
ability many college-bred applicants of both races, who presented 
themselves on that occasion to undergo the same test. Mr. Thomas 
has worked his way up to that of first grade employe in the customs 
service, and he has the reputation of being one of the most capable 
men in the service. 

A Veteran Newspaper Correspondent. 

For more than twenty years Mr. Thomas has been engaged in 
newspaper work, but mainly as a side line. He has served on the 
staff of several of the most widely known newspapers of the race, 
and has made a reputation that is nation wide for his fearlessness in 
defending the interests of the race. His efforts in behalf of the 
race can not even be approximated, unless some of them he herein 
Stated. It has been the lot of very few men to accomplish with the 
pen as much for the race as Mr. Thomas has accomplished. A few 
instances may be named in which his trenchant pen did great work 
for the welfare of tin- race: 

(1) When there was a movement on toot to oust -ill of the col- 
ored teachers in the schools of New Orleans ,-md replace them with 
white teachers, the masterly pen of Mr. Thomas opened the eves 
of the thinking public to the injustice that would he done the col- 
ored race 1>\ such an act. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 67 

(2) When the legislature of the State of Louisiana was con- 
sidering the advisability of removing Southern University from the 
city of New Orleans, the forceful arguments and facile pen of Mr. 
Thomas clarified the situation and helped to turn the tide in favor 
of justice and right affecting the interests and welfare of the race. 

(3) He came to the rescue of the laboring classes of the race 
during the days when the movement to import white labor from 
Europe to supplant the Negroes of the South was in the throes of 
discussion. Mr. Thomas vigorously attacked the movement, and 
even wrote to the governor of the State of Louisiana, calling his 
attention to the great wrong which seemed about to be inflicted upon 
his race. The reply of Governor Blanchard to the letter of Mr. 
Thomas was in keeping with the high mind and patriotic feelings 
of the governor, who gave Mr. Thomas assurance of his kindly 
interest in the matter and his promise to conserve the public wel- 
fare. The kind governor kept his word, and thus stayed the hand 
of acrimonious discussion and probable violence to the race. 

His Devoted Companion. 

In the year of 1886 Mr. Thomas achieved the most substantial 
success of his career when he won the hand, heart and life com- 
panionship of Miss Mary Carmelite Emsley, to whom he was united 
in marriage in the Jesuit Catholic Church, Barronne street, New 
Orleans, La. The issue of their marriage has been twelve children, 
of whom seven are still living. Mr. Thomas comes of prolific stock 
and his record must ring true to the paternal name. His estimable 
companion is one of the most faithful and one of the most resource- 
ful women of the race, and she has done her full duty to her dear 
children and devoted husband. 

Conclusion. 

Mr. Thomas is one of the brightest examples of success. He is 
in its broadest sense a self-made man. and has budded for himself 
a monument loftier and more enduring than thousands of college 
graduates ever could have done. He is not only reasonably fixed as 
to the goods of this world, but he is as rich as a Croesus in the 
appreciation and gratitude of his people. He is a thinker and a 
writer of ability and. better than these, he is a man upon whom any 
one may rely without disappointment. His promise is just as good 
as a gold coin fresh from the mint, and he is in many ways one of 
the most capable, most faithful and most reliable men that the writer 
has ever had the pleasure of meeting. 



68 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA( E 




lOHN W . SI RAUTHE R DE( I IS] D) 




BEACOX LUillTS OF THE RACE 69 



John W. Strauther (Deceased), Greenville, Miss. 

President of Delta Penny Savings Bank and Grand Master 

of the Exchequer of the Knights of 

Pythias of Mississippi. 



HE Fourth of July, 18(J7, was noted not only as the natal 
day of free, enlightened and glorious America, but from 
the standpoint of the colored people of the State of Mis- 
sissippi, who delight to cherish and honor his memory, this 
same historic day was made memorable by the birth of John W. 
Strauther, a member of the race, and one whose name and fame 
will ever shine with stellar brightness on the pages of the race's 
history. He was the prince of business men, a great financier, a 
wise and far-sighted leader, and the most beloved man in the ranks 
of the race in the State of Mississippi. 



His Education. 

The lamented subject of this sketch was a man of the greatest 
intelligence, and in the domain of natural ability he was nearly 
peerless in the ranks of the race. Though he was fortunate enough 
to acquire a common school education in the schools of his native 
county, yet he was in the strict application of the term a self-made 
man. He was a man of such great natural endowment that in a State 
that is noted for the intellectual pre-eminence of its colored citizens, 
he was in the front rank of leadership, and if he had been honored 
with diplomas from any of the leading colleges and universities of 
the land, he could not have held a more exalted place in the respect, 
esteem and honor of his countrymen, who idolized his personality in 
life and now revere his memorv in death. 



Oi'T in Life Early to Struggle. 

Early in life the subject of this sketch was thrown upon his own 
resources to fight the battles of life, and how well he succeeded in 
the conflict is a source of pride and gratification to the entire race. 



7,, beacox lights of the race 

Whether enduring the burning heat of the brickyard, or portering 
in a store, or driving a delivery wagon, or hauling cotton to the 
compress, or serving as shipping clerk in a large wholesale grocery, 
he did his work to the best of his ability, and with complete fidelity 
to the interests of those whom he served. He was not ashamed to 
do any kind of work that was honorable, and the foundation of his 
success in after life was laid in the thoroughness with which he 
looked after the little things in his early lite. 



Little by Little Climbing Higher. 

Having saved some money by working hard in various capacities, 
in the year of 1888 he began his career as a business man by enter- 
ing the grocery business. He had fair success in that venture, but 
the impairment of his health necessitated his closing out his busi- 
ness, which he did in the year of 1890. In the meantime he had 
already begun to operate a dray line in connection with his mercan- 
tile business. In the course of time his draying and transportation 
business had increased to such proportions that he had, practically, 
a monopoly of the public hauling that was done in the city of 
Greenville. For five years he hauled all the cotton and cotton seed 
from the river to the compress in the city of Greenville, and for 
ten years or more he had the largest transfer system in his home 
city and possibly the largest in the State that was exclusively oper- 
ated by a colored man. In the operation of his mammoth transfer 
business he employed from time to time a dozen or more men. He 
was very successful in the transfer business, and accumulated suf- 
ficient capital to enable him to enter the undertaking business in the 
year of 1902. 



The Leading Undertakes in Greenville. 

Having disposed of his transfer outfit of horses and wagons, he 
began in the business of undertaking March l. 1902. He prospered 
in that business, and at the time of his death he was one of the 
Lading undertakers in the State «»l Mississippi. His delivery equip- 
ment was as complete and as pretentious as the size ot the city and 

the demands of its people would warrant. It consisted of three 
hearses, two carriages, one ambulance, one dead wagon, two run- 
abouts and six horses. 11«- was the most popular undertaker in the 
State, and did practically all the business of his race in the city 
,,f Greenville. He also had a good country patronage. He was 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 71 

awarded the contract for burying the city and county paupers, and 
that contract was awarded to him in competition with undertakers 
of the dominant race. The last inventory of his undertaking estab- 
lishment taken before his sad demise snowed a total valuation of 
$6,500, without any outstanding obligations. In the city of Green- 
ville there never could have been a successful competitor of .Mr. 
John W. Strauther in the undertaking business, for his equipment 
was complete and modern, and his popularity so universal that all 
competition would have been rendered futile. 

The Leading Fraternity Man of His State. 
Grand Treasurer of the Knights of Pythias of Mississippi. 

As the honored Grand Treasurer of the Knights of Pythias of the 
State of Mississippi, he received and disbursed for the order over 
$100,000 annually. When he took charge of the finances of the 
order in the year of 1898, the indebtedness of the fraternity to 
widows and orphans was nearly $17,500, and there was not a dollar 
in the treasury to apply to the redemption of the pledges of the 
order. Since that fateful day in the fraternity's life, the masterful 
administration of affairs by the Treasurer enabled him to pay to 
the widows and orphans of the order upward of half a million dol- 
lars. In his report to the Grand Lodge, in its session at Yazoo City 
in the year of 1910. it was shown that there was a balance of more 
than $18,000 in the endowment treasury and that the reserve fund 
had in its coffers the sum of $11,000. When he began his official 
connection with the fraternity in the year of 1898, it had less than 
fiftv lodges in the State and less than 1,000 members, but so 
phenomenal has been the growth of the order that at the time of 
his death it had six hundred lodges and over 16,500 members. 
When he took charge of the finances of the order its endowment 
policy was only $300, but it now is $600. 

Supreme Vice Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. 

In the month of June. lf)0S. the lamented subject of this sketch 
was appointed Supreme Vice Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, 
and was elected to that exalted position at the biennial meeting of 
the order in Kansas City. Mo., in 1909- That position made him the 
official head of the Women's Department of Supreme Lodge of 
Knights of Pythias of the World. 



72 BEAK <>.X LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Supreme Treasurer of Knights and Ladies of the Temple of 

America. 

He was Supreme Treasurer of the Knights and Daughters of the 
Temple of America, a fraternity which was organized in the year 
of 1904. This fraternity has about 2,500 members and operates in 
tin State of Mississippi. Louisiana. Alabama and Arkansas. H< 
was elevated to the position of Treasurer in the year of 1908. His 
first report showed collections and disbursements amounting to 
about $1,000 at the expiration of the first year of his incumbency. 
His last report, July 26, 1910. showed a total of $5,000 collected 
and disbursed for the order. It is a young and growing order, and 
seems destined to succeed in its sphere of beneficence to its members. 

Manager of The Blade, Official Organ of the Knights of 

Pythias of Mississippi. 

In connection with his many other responsible duties, both in 
business and fraternal life, he was the manager of the Blade, which 
is the official organ of the Knights of Pythias of the State of 
Mississippi. It is a well edited publication, and is potential in all 
matters relating to the craft in the State. It has a circulation of 
over 1.000. 

Prominent in Religious Circles. 

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his duties in the other walks 
of life, the sub jet of this sketch never neglected his religious obli- 
gations, the faithful performance of which was the source of all 
of his earthly prosperity. To fear God, inherit the earth and the 
fullness thereof, lias ever been the reward of those who live close 
to the Master. He was very prominent in religious life, and tor 
many years lie was a member of the Hoard of Deacons ot Mt. Horeb 
Missionary Baptist Church, Greenville, Miss. 

President of the Delta Savings Bank. 

That he was one of the kings in tlie world of business is demon- 
strated by the fact that he was financially connected with nearly 
every great business enterprise of the race in the State ot Missis 
Sippi. There was hardly a business enterprise ot' any magnitude 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 73 

whose promoters did not seek the membership and co-operation of 
Mr. John \V. Strauther, of Greenville, Miss. He was President of 
the Delta Savings Bank of Greenville, Miss., a financial institution 
that was organized in the year of 1907 with a capital of $25,000. 
This bank is one of the solid financial institutions of the State, and 
is an enduring monument to the wise leadership and financial 
resources of that great and good man. whose every etfort was 
devoted to the bank's welfare and success. 

A Stockholder in a Multitude ok Race Enterprises. 

In addition to his substantial stock holdings in the Delta Savings 
Bank, he was a stockholder of the Solvent Savings Bank & Trust 
Company, of Memphis, Tenn. He was a stockholder of the Bank 
of Mound Bayou, Mound Bayou, Miss. He was a stockholder of 
the Mound Bayou Oil Mill Manufacturing Company. He was a 
director of the Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company, the 
greatest organization of its character in the world. He was Secre- 
tary of the Union Guaranty Insurance Company of Mississippi, a 
bonding and life insurance company that was organized in 1910 
and incorporated with a capital of $50,000. He was President and 
Manager of the Queen City Realty Company of Greenville, Miss., 
a great real estate corporation that was capitalized at $'25,000. Its 
object was the purchase of large tracts of land and the building 
thereon of homes which might be purchased by patrons on such 
easy terms that the payments might seem like rent. He was a 
director of the Co-Operative Mercantile Company of Greenville, 
Miss., one of the largest mercantile companies of the race in the 
delta. It is incorporated and capitalized at $10,000. 

A Large Property Holder. 

Not only was the lamented subject financially interested in every 
race enterprise of note in the State of Mississippi, but he was also 
one of the most substantial owners of city property in the State. 
He owned about twelve pieces of property in the city of Green- 
ville, Miss., among which may be mentioned the John W. Strauther 
building, a splendid two-story brick office building, located on tin- 
most prominent business street in the city. He also owned valuable 
lots in Oklahoma. 

His Estimable and Devoted Widow. 

Back of every successful man there is some good and devoted 
woman, cither faithful wife or devoted mother, and this was espe- 



74 BEACOX UGH I - OF I HE BA( E 

eially true in the case of the highly successful man who has so 
recently been taken from the walks of man to his reward. January 
16, 188f). the lamented husband was joined in the holy bonds of 
matrimony to Miss Sarah Anderson, of Vicksburg, Miss. She 
gained the main part of her education in the city of Vicksburg, and 
she is considered and known as a woman of refinement and culture 
and real worth. For over twenty-one years this faithful and devoted 
wife counselled, toiled and struggled with her husband up the hill 
to final success and fortune. If the lamented and beloved man 
of the people owed his success in lite to any mortal being, it was 
to his faithful wife, who took hold of the reins of responsibility 
and duty at the very beginning of his career as an ambitious, strug- 
gling young man. was faithful to his interests, worked unceasingly 
for him and strove in every legitimate and honorable way for his 
success. The subject confided to the writer his belief that the 
lamented subject had as good a wife as there was in the whole wide 
world, and the earnest and manly manner in which he spoke those 
sentiments was positive proof to the writer that the subject meant 
every word. Mrs. John W. Strauther is a woman of good, sound, 
business sense and judgment. Her long association in business 
with her deceased husband made her no novice in business affairs, 
and she is well able to care for herself in any business proposition. 
Having succeeded to the ownership and management of the vast 
interests that were bequeathed to her by her lamented husband, her 
superior intelligence and long experience in business matters make 
her thoroughly capable of safeguarding her interests, .and it is not 
mere speculation to predict that her success as a business woman 
will be quite as pronounced as that of her distinguished husband. 
Mrs. Strauther is liberal and generous, and has many of those 
identical qualities that made her husband the most beloved man 
in the State of Mississippi. 

An Estimate of His Character. 

In many respects the subject was an extraordinary man. Un- 
doubtedly lie was one of the most successful men that the race ever 
produced in the State of Mississippi. His patrimony was neither 
a silver spoon nor even a pewter spoon, for by his own invincible 
determination and efforts he rose to the pinnacle of success. He 
was really an able man. with versatile qualification, lie had the 
happy faculty of succeeding in everything that he attempted. He 
was universally popular, and there was no honor in the gift ot his 
race in the State of Mississippi which would not have been freely 
Conferred upon him lor tin men asking. It is the candid opinion 



BEACOJS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 75 

of many that the subject of this sketch was the most popular man 
in the State of Mississippi. There was something in his personality 
that endeared and cemented him to everybody with whom he came 
in contact. His friends were legion and treasured his friendship 
as one of their most priceless possessions. Among the able men of 
his State he was the ablest in natural ability. Among the wealthy 
lit was one of the wealthiest. Among the honored he was the most 
honored, and among the beloved he was the most beloved. There 
will never be his like among the people of the State of Mississippi 
again, for it has been the wisdom of Providence never to create two 
beings in the universe exactly alike. He was a man that commanded 
the respect, esteem and admiration of the white race to the same 
extent that he did the people of his own race. He was a man among 
men. irrespective of race, and the race suffered irreparable loss when 
it pleased the Almighty Father to summon him to his reward. May 
peace be to his ashes. 



76 



/;/•:./' OX LIGHTS OF THE RAi /.' 




J. O. DIFFAY. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 77 



./. 0. Diffay, Birmingham, Ala. 

First Vice-President of Alabama Penny Savings Bank — Dead r 

in Real Estate and Proprietor of the Finest Ton- 

sorial Parlor in the South. 

NE of the best known, most highly respected and most 
enterprising citizens of Birmingham, Ala., is Mr. J. O. 
Diffayj who is a member of the race, notwithstanding the 

French flavor of his name, and who has done much that 
redounds to the credit and honor of the race. He has a claim second 
to none on the best wishes and esteem of the citizens of Birmingham, 
for he was born in the city's corporate limits and has resided therein 
for the entire period of his life. He was ushered into this mortal 
existence March 22, 1862, and was the son of parents who, in addi- 
tion to their farm land possessions, were rich in the goods of this 
world to the extent of fifteen children. 

His Education. 

In comparison with the splendid educational advantages that are 
in reach of nearly every colored boy of the present day, Mr. Diffay's 
opportunities for acquiring an education were very limited. He 
enjoyed only such meager advantages as were provided in the 
primitive district schools in the early days of Birmingham. He 
never attended school for more than three months at one time, and 
the result was that he had to get a sort of hop-skip-and-jump educa- 
tion until he had advanced to the intermediate grades. Conscious of 
his lack of educational advantages in his youth, Mr. Diffay has 
striven to make up those disadvantages by constant reading. He 
is an inveterate reader of newspapers, magazines and literary 
periodicals, and in this praiseworthy manner, combined with con- 
stant association with educated people, he has been rounded into a 
man of the highest intelligence. 

His Early Struggles to Sui ( eed. 

The subject of this sketch spent the first sixteen years of his life 
on the farm, but from his sixteenth birthday until he was twenty- 
five years old he worked as a general, all-round genius, and made 
an attempt at nearly everything from public work to the business of 
digging wells and selling books. At the age of twenty-one he 
was married to Miss Flattie Roebuck, a young woman from one of 
the oldest and best families of the city. From this union three ehil- 



7s BEACOS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

dren were horn. In 1898 Mrs. Diffay died. Leaving her husband 
and three small children. At the age of twenty-five he went into 
the product- business with a capital of seventy-five dollars, but this 
first business venture ended in abject failure. Undaunted by his first 
experience, he took up a new buckle in his belt and launched out 
in the fruit and confection business. According to his light, he had 
done his best, but the result was but a repetition of his rirst experi- 
ence and he made an assignment in the course of six months. Now, 
there is an old saying that some people can be fooled all the time, 
hut Mr. Diffay's name was not enrolled in that immortal number. 
Having twice failed in business, he decided to quit the marts of 
speculation and take up a reasonably sure proposition. He estab- 
lished himself in the tonsorial business with only two chairs, and 
in the course of two years he had thriven so well that he was able 
to liquidate to the last penny the seven hundred dollars of indebted 
ness for which he was morally responsible as the result of his second 
business failure. 

A Dealer in Real Estate. 

In the year of 1888 Mr. Ditl'ay. who had become one of the most 
skillful artists in his line in the city of Birmingham, discontinued 
active work in the shop and entered the business of real estate, in 
which he has hern constantly engaged to this time, with the excep- 
tion of three years' service in the department of the United States 
government. He is one of the oldest and one of the i/iost successful 
real estate men of color in the Magic City of the South, and his 
expert knowledge of realty in his home city is on parity with the 
best in the business. 

A Leader in Business Enterprises. 

In a business way, Mr. Diffay is one of the most enterprising men 
that the city of Birmingham has ever produced. He has been eon 
nected more or less with every colored business of consequence that 

has In rn operated in the city of Birmingham lor tin- past score of 

years. He is one of the original organizers of the Alabama Penny 
Savings Hank, the pioneer banking institution of the race in the 
city of Birmingham, and he is the honored First Vice President of 
the same. With the exception of one yen-, he has been a member 
of the hoard of directors of the Penny Savings Bank since the day 
of its organization. He is an active, potential force in connection 
with this w i 11 known counting house, and his name adds much to its 
financial solidarity. He was the first colored agent for an insurance 
company in the State of Alabama. He was one of the organizers of 
the People's Mutual Aid Association of Alabama, an industrial 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 79 

insurance company of the- race, and he has the honor of being its 
first President. He is a stockholder in the Jefferson County Land 
& Improvement Company of Birmingham, Ala.; he is a stockholder 
in the Red Bird Investment Company, of lied Bird. Okla.; he is a 
stockholder in the Weighing Wagon Company of Birmingham, and 
he is a heavy stockholder in a gasoline and air project that has been 
made possible by the genius of Mr. - Crockett. He owns six 

lots in Kingfisher, Oklahoma Territory, and seven pieces of property 
in the city of Birmingham, Ala., in addition to the substantial inter- 
est he holds in the estate of his father. His home is in harmony with 
his extraordinary enterprise and general prosperity, and is an ele- 
gant, commodious and substantial two-story building, located in a 
very desirable section of the city. 

The Finest Tonsorial Parlor in the South. 

The declaration that Mr. J. O. D iff ay has the most elegant ton- 
sorial parlor for colored people that can be found in the entire 
South cannot be successfully contradicted. The writer has traveled 
from Kalamazoo to Timbuctoo, but he has never had the pleasure 
of seeing such a complete establishment as the one of which Mr. 
Diffay is the proprietor. This famous parlor was fitted up at an 
expenditure of $8,000, and it is generally said to be the finest shop 
for colored people to be found in the United States. Its width is 
twice that of ordinary shops, and six chairs are on each side, making 
it one of the few twelve-chair shops in this country. In connection 
with the swell tonsorial parlors there are the following rooms: a 
reading room, containing the latest journals, magazines and other 
periodicals; a bath room, fitted up with conveniences for ordinary 
baths, shower baths, vapor baths and Turkish baths; a large and 
well furnished pool room, which affords amusement and pleasure to 
many of the best people of the city. The shop is steam heated and 
illuminated both with gas ami electricity. Its sanitary condition i> 
perfect, its tiled floor and marble basins enabling it to be washed 
out with a hose. Its chairs are white enameled, and the best that 
the market affords for the price. This palatial tonsorial parlor is a 
most significant evidence both of the progressive character of Mr. 
Diffay and his optimism for the rare. 

His Devoted Wife. 

In the year of 1901, Mr. .1. (). Diffay was united in marriage to 
Miss Rosa Bradford, of Birmingham. Ala. She is a graduate of 
the Birmingham public schools and Tuskegee Normal Institute 
She was an experienced teacher, and taught in the schools of Ala- 



BEACOS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

bama and Oklahoma i < »r several years. Four children have been 
the fruits of their union. .Mrs. Rosa D iff "ay's devoted efforts and 
timely encouragement have entered very largely into the structure 
of her husband's success. She is a woman that is as resourceful 
as she is accomplished, and she is capable of contributing invalu- 
able service to the success of her enterprising husband. 

Of An Optimistic Temperament. 

Mr. Diffay is an ideal example of race push and race energy, and 
for these two qualities the race is deeply obligated to him. He has 
spent both time and money in encouraging and fostering the business 
enterprises of the race. He has supreme confidence in the possi- 
bilities of the race, and is ever buoyant, optimistic and enthusiastic. 
To him there is no cloud so dark that it has no silver lining; so 
when many members of the race have been most dreary and doubtful 
of the race's future. Mr. Diffay has retained his cheerfulness and 
his confidence for the future of the race. If he were not a highly 
optimistic gentleman he would have been afraid to invest such a 
vast sum of money in such an enterprise. He is a progressive man to 
the very core. He believs in the possibilities of the race, and the 
race believes in Mr. Diffay. and the city of Birmingham, noted 
throughout the South for its progressivencss. would not be thus 
noted if it were not for tin business enterprise, public spiritedness 
and unceasing optimism on the part of the subject of this sketch. 
Mr. .1. (). DifFav. 



^ 



BEACO.X LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



81 




Prof. W. E. I. or, Birmingham, Ala. 

Principal ok the Music Department ok Miles Memorial 
College — A Native Sox ok Massachusetts. 



ROF. WILLIAM EDWARD LEW. the well-known and 
talented musician, is a native son of the grand old Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, and was born in what is now- 
known as Pawtuckettsville, Lowell, Mass.. July 1. 1865. 




His coming to these mundane shores was at a time when the tires of 
the Civil War were dying out and the angel of peace was just begin- 
ning to winy; his flight over a re-united country, and the subject - 
youthful spirit seems to have absorbed the significance oi tin- times 
in which he was born, for he is as ardent a lover of peace as he is oi 
the "diviitr art" of which he is such a worthy exponent. 



82 />7.J< <>\ LIGHTS OF THE RAi E 

I lis Illustrious Am estry. 

Ii' there be such a feeling as pride of ancestry , the subject of 

this skt-tch ought to be one of the proudest men on the American 
continent, for there are indeed few members of the Anglo-Saxon 
race in America that can trace their lineage more clearly back tor 
nearly two centuries than this representative of the black race. 

It is a matter of record that his ancestors fought in tin- old French 
and Indian wars, way hack in Colonial times in America, and that 
they also distinguished themselves in the war for American inde- 
pendence. The Lew family was ever noted for its patriotic impulses, 
and its members carried their muskets shoulder to shoulder with 
the other patriots of the Revolutionary War against the common 
enemy. 

For over one hundred and fifty years the Lew family of Massa 
chusetts has been noted for its production of musicians. Way hack 
in the times of the Colonial wars, the records show that the members 
of the Lew family were the musicians of the .Massachusetts quota 
i'rom the town of (iroton; that they went from that town not only 
as soldiers in the Continental army, hut as musicians as well. They 
played martial music and fought with muskets and bayonets at 
Saratoga under Genera] Gates and at Brandywine under the brave 
and intrepid leadership of "Mad" Anthony Wayne and other com- 
manders from the State of Massachusetts. After the Revolution 
they returned home and were noted as musicians throughout Essex 
and' Middlesex counties in their native State. Thus, in peace and in 
war the ancestors of Prof. W. E. Lew gave their time and talents 
to the welfare and glory of their country. 

His Father. 

The father of the subject of this narrative^ Mr. James A. Lew, is 

a musician of note, and tor some time he held the honored position 
of chairman of the music committee of the Cambridge School Hoard, 
lie was his gifted son's first instructor in music, and he Laid for his 
son a substantia] foundation on which to huild a towering and 
enduring musical superstructure. The father is one of the prominent 
business men of the city of Boston, and a worthy progenitor of a 
talented and worthy son. 

Ills M usil \I. Tn UNING. 

Having pursued the study of music lor some time under his 
father, tin subject was then put under the instruction of Mr. .1. 
All- H Snow, of Charleston, Mass., under whom he graduated after 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE /■'./' E 83 

eight years of diligent and unremitting application. He pursued 
further study of the piano at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and 
also under Mr. C. A. White, a grandson and graduate of Herr Listz, 
the greatest of all pianists. He studied the pipe organ and har- 
mony with Mr. F. P. White, the organist of Trinity M. E. Church, 
Charleston, Mass. Me studied harmony and chorus directing with 
Dr. H. II. Palmer of New York City, and Ur. W. H. Sherwin of 
the New England Conservatory of Music. He studied voice culture 
with Madame M. Hamilton Hodges and Mr. E. A. Woodward of the 
New England Conservatory of Music. 

His Professional Work in the North. 

For four years he served as organist of Union Baptist Church, 
Cambridge, Mass., and for two years he served in a similar capacity 
with Morning Star Baptist Church, Boston, Mass. For seven years 
he was the hading tenor at Trinity M. E. Church. Charleston, Mass., 
and for two years he served in the same capacity at St. Peter's P. E. 
Church, Cambridge, Mass. The last two were entirely white con- 
gregations. 

In the South. 

For several years Prof. Lew has been laboring in the South, and 
is secure in the reputation of being one of the most widely known and 
most capable instructors of music in the South. For three years 
he was at the head of the Music Department of Lane College. Jack- 
son, Tennessee, and he is now at the head of the Music Department 
of Miles Memorial College. Birmingham. Ala. In his present 
position he is doing great things for Miles Memorial College, and 
the day is not distant when that splendid institution of learning will 
be as noted for its musical excellence as for its literary attainments. 

His Forte. 

While Prof. Lew is by training and experience one of the most 
capable instructors to be found in this country, his forte is in the 
capacity of tenor soloist and accompanist. As a tenor soloist he is a 
star of the first magnitude, and will compare favorably with any of 
the high class artists of this country. His services for seven years 
as a tenor soloist in one of the leading white churches of the State 
of Massachusetts is ample proof of his superior attainments as a 
vocalist. As a teacher of music he is the personification of patience, 
and takes even more interest in the work of his constitutionally 
backward pupils than he does his brilliant ones. He has the faculty 
of getting results, and this is the highest compliment that can be 
given to any teacher. 



M BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

His Devoted Wife. 

On August 1, 1894, Prof. Lew was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary Lave Owens, of East Boston, Mass. The nuptial knot was 
tied by Rev. F. M. Gardner, a Baptist minister, in whose family 
she had been reared. Mrs. Lew's devotion to the interests and 
welfare of her husband has had much to do with his success, and 
with her inspiration his possibilities in a musical way are unlimited. 
She is a woman of culture and refinement, and one whose aesthetic- 
tastes are thoroughly in accord with those of her talented husband. 

His Popularitv. 

Prof. Lew is a very popular man in musical and social circles. He 
has the peculiar faculty of making friends wherever he goes. He 
is a whole-souled, congenial, unaffected gentleman, notwithstanding 
his unusual talents and distinguished ancestry. While he takes 
some degree of pride in his ancestors, both on his paternal and 
maternal side, yet he realizes the fact that real worth must enter 
the composition of success. As a musician he is an ornament to 
his profession, and as a man he is an ornament to his race. 



^ 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 85 



Dr. A. A. Cosey, Mound Bayou, Miss. 

Chief Grand Mentor op the Mississippi Jurisdiction of the 
International Order ok Twelve, Knights and Daughters 
of Tabor — Corresponding Secretary of the Na- 
tional Baptist Benefit Association. 

NE of the best known, most progressive, most popular and 
most versatile men in the State of Mississippi, and one to 
whom his adopted State is deeply indebted for services 
rendered in behalf of the welfare and uplift of his race, 




is Dr. A. A. Cosey, of Mound Bayou, Miss. His strong personality 
as a race leader, his aggressiveness as a business man, his progressive 
ideas concerning citizenship, and his unbounded popularity both in 
ministerial and fraternal circles, give him an extraordinary power 
for good in the advancement and elevation of his race, to which he 
has dedicated the activities and best years of his useful life. 

His Birthplace. 

The popular subject of this sketch is a native of the State of 
Louisiana, and was born in Newellton, July 2, 1874-. He was the 
issue of Elias and Jane Cosey, both of whom were parents of the 
old school of excellence and virtue, and strove to inculcate in the 
mind of their son all the cardinal virtues of character. His father 
was a native of the State of Louisiana, but his mother was a product 
of the proud old State of Kentucky, and no doubt transmitted to 
her son much of that hustling, aggressive and determined spirit 
which today forms the salient trait of his character. The doctor 
was reared on the farm, and was daily inured to its duties and 
hardships until he had acquired an education that enabled him to 
quit the farm and transfer his energies into other channels of 
activity. 

His Education. 

The early educational training of Dr. A. A. Cosey was in the 
public schools of his native community, but at the age of sixteen 
years the sphere of his educational activities was changed to Natchez 
College, Natchez, Mississippi, in which institution of learning he 
completed the academic course. While a student of Natchez College 
he partly maintained himself by engaging in the teachers' profession 
during his summer vacations; at the close of his student life at 
Natchez College he engaged actively in the profession of teaching 



86 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




DR. \. A. COSE\ 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 87 

for six years in the State of Mississippi, and thus early laid the 
foundation of a useful and noble career in the uplift of his people. 

A Minister of the Gospel. 

In the year of 18<)0 he was converted and immediately united with 
the Stonewall Baptist Church at Xewellton. Louisiana, in the pastor- 
ate of Rev. John Hieks. His conversion was the turning point in 
his career, for soon thereafter he obeyed the divine call to conse- 
crate his life to the gospel ministry. With this eall to duty upper- 
most in his mind, lie began the systematic study of theology while a 
student of Natchez College. He was ordained in the gospel min- 
istry by Rev. A. J. Bryant and Rev. John H. Hendricks at Newell- 
ton. La. He organized the Metropolitan Baptist Church at Clarks- 
dale. Miss., and for eight years ministered with great success to the 
needs of that large congregation. He was for four years pastor 
of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Shelby, Miss., and for more than 
two years he was pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, Greenville, 
Miss. The last two pastorates were held in connection with other 
charges. He is now the beloved and honored pastor of Green Grove 
Baptist Church of Mound Bayou. Miss., and has served in his 
present capacity for the past five or more years. 

Green Grove Baptist Church. 

The growth of his present charge, both numerically and spiritu- 
ally, has been highly gratifying to Dr. Cosey. His arduous and 
zealous labors in the cause of the moral, intellectual and spiritual 
advancement of his people have been rewarded with unusual success. 
His con<rre<ration is one of the largest and one of the most repre- 
sentative in the delta. It has a membership of over 600 souls, and 
the valuation of its church property is in excess of $6,000. The 
Sunday School of this church is in a flourishing condition and all 
the working departments of the church are in active operation. 

Traits \> \ Minister. 

The doctor is as progressive a preacher as he is a citizen. He 
does not divorce religion from the daily affairs of life, for he 
believes in the power of religion in the present life as well as in 
the life beyond the grave. He is called the "business preacher," 
because of the fact that he is actively engaged in the material affairs 
of life and has won success in the business world that would lie a 
credit to any of the great captains of industry rather than to a 
minister of the gospel. He is strong in every department of minis- 



88 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

terial service He is a forceful and effective pulpit orator, a good 
pastor and a safe and conservative leader, and the magnitude of his 
following demonstrates the truth of this statement. 

His Honorary Degree. 

That the reverend subject of this sketch has impressed his per- 
sonality deeply upon the affections of the people of the State and 
upon their institutions, is evident to all who are acquainted with his 
high and influential standing with the Baptists of the State of 
Mississippi'. As it has already been stated. Dr. Cosey studied 
theology while a student at Natchez College. His success is a 
minister of the gospel has been so great that his alma mater. 
Natchez College, as a faint testimonial of its appreciation of his 
services, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor ot 
Divinity in 1 !)<>.">. an honor which he wears not only with becoming 
dignity, hut with real merit. 

Honors From His Denomination. 

Verv lew ministers of the gospel have been more highly honored 
i-. an official way than has Dr. Cosey of Mound Bayou. Miss. Both 
the Baptists of his State and the Baptists of the whole nation have 
he ni pleased to confer honors upon him. He served as Correspond- 
ing Secretary of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention 
of Mississippi, and for several years he lias been conspicuous in the 
official councils of the National Baptist Convention. In the year 
of 1905 he was elected Corresponding Secretary of the National 
Baptist Benefit Association, a position to which he has been re-elected 
every recurring year since that time. In intellectual calibre he is 
national in dimensions and capable of reflecting the greatest pos- 
sible credit upon the distinguished body of churchmen whose interests 
he has so faithfully served. 

Chief ( rn \m> Mentor. 

The fraternity of which Dr. A. A. Cosey is the honored leader 
in the jurisdiction of Misisssippi is one of the oldest benevolent 
organizations of the race, and was first organized in the year of 
1871 by the revered and lamented Moses Dickson, a man of great 
sagacity and foresight, who early seized the opportunity after the 
race's emancipation to unite its members in a fraternal body for the 
advancement and uplift of the race. In those early days the 
benighted members of the race were sorelv in need of a strong 
leader to teach them the value of unitv and to train them in habits 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 89 

of self- respect, decency and honor. As the head of this organiza- 
tion for a score of years or more, the lamented founder of the order, 
Mr. Moses Dickson, saw it grow from a struggling, indifferent body 
of men to a powerful, militant organization that is international in 
character and known and honored throughout the civilized world. 

The Mississippi Jurisdiction. 

The jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi has the honor of 
leading all other State jurisdictions in numerical strength, financial 
power and strong leadership. It was organized in the year of 1888, 
and has flourished in the State as very few other organizations have. 
The responsible reins of leadership were put into the hands of Dr. 
A. A. Cosey in the year of lpO.Q. He succeeded in office Sir K. D. 
Smith, who was called to his reward July 31, 1909, and who had 
held the reins of government in the jurisdiction for sixteen years. 
Dr. Cosey has been honored with re-election to the high office which 
he so creditably fills, and it is hoped that his administration of the 
affairs of the order will be so satisfactory that he may look forward 
without apprehension to many more years of usefulness and service 
to his people. Since being at the head of the order some of his 
policies have been crystallized into law for the government and 
betterment of the order. 

The Growth of the Okder. 

The growth of the order in the State of Mississippi has been 
marvelous. During the twenty-three years of the order's operations 
in the State of Mississippi it has grown from nearly zero numer- 
ically to a militant host of nearly twenty-five thousand members. 
This increase has been at a rate slightly in excess of one thousand 
members annually, and it is doubtful if any other order has grown 
more consistentlv from vear to vear than this one. 



Its Endowment Policy. 

That the fraternity has taken advanced ground with the other 
progressive and reputable orders of the race, is shown by the fad 
that it has a creditable endowment department. The general policv 
of the order pays the sum of $500 to the beneficiary of the bereaved 
member's family if the member be either a Sir Knight or Daughter. 
This generous allowance is sufficient to bring cheer and comfort to 
the bereaved in life's saddest hour of affliction. 



90 II ACOX l.K.ll I - 01 THE RACE 

His Business Investments. 

The calling of Dr. Cosey is that of minister of tin gospel, and 
this divine calling lias ever had first claim upon his allegiance and 
fidelity; hut he has not been content to sit around amidst the tomb- 
stones in the graveyards and think of nothing else hut the inevitable 
t'ate that must befall every human being. Instead of heing a mere 
theological recluse or hermit tar removed from the practical opera- 
tions of life, just as wire the oracles and soothsayers of ancient 
times, tin versatile doctor has elected to carry the Bible in one 
hand and the hook of husiness matters in the other hand, and to use 
both of these hooks for the glorification of our Father who art in 
heaven. Not only has the doctor been a consistent fighter of the 
battles against sin and wickedness, hut he has 1m i a foremost in 
the struggles for the material advancement of his people. He is 
known tar and widely as "the husiix ss preacher." He is Yiee- 
l'n 9ident of the Hank of Mound Bayou, one of the most substantial 
evidences of the race's progress in the delta, and a bank whose 
n sourci s will compare favorably with any other financial institution 
of the race in tin State. lb is a stockholder and Secretary ot the 
Mound Bayou Oil Mill and Manufacturing Company, one of the 
greatest ami one >>l the most ambitious enterprises that has ever 
been conceived and fostered by members of the raee. He is the 
owner of valuable property in Clarksdale, Miss.. Newellton, Louisi- 
ana, ami Mound BayOU, Miss. The doctor is the owner of more 
than one hundred acr< S of rich farm land in the delta, which is 
conservatively worth more than $4,000. In the town of Mound 
Bayou be rents out marly a do/en houses. The remarkable success 
of the doctor in such a short time demonstrates the possibilities 

that this Southland presents to every member of the race that his 
in his character the fundamental requisites of industry, t snergy, 
t conomy ami thri it . 

Ills Elegant Home. 

< 'in of tin most Laudable ambitions of a sensible man should be to 
be the proud possessor of a comfortable and substantia] home. If 
benign Providence has smiled rather than frowned upon the efforts 
of a man. such a fortunate man owes it to his wife and children to 
provide lor their comfort and pleasure the most substantial and 
luxurious home that his circumstances \\ill permit him to give them. 
In this particular it can be sa|d of Dr. Cosey that he his no! been 
derelict in his duty, lor he not only has ., splendid mansion in tin 
skns. hut he .ils. i his .1 splendid one on these mundane shorts. His 

- leganl and substantial hom< is not only a credit to him as a colored 

loan, hut it would he equally as creditable t" him if he were a member 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



91 



of the opposite race. It is a commodious, two-story, modern home. 
fitted up with all of the conveniences thai arc necessary for a man 
in his circumstances and station in life. It is a credit even to the 
Chief Grand Mentor of a great fraternity, and a monument to his 
energy, economy and thrift. 




MRS. A. A. COSEY 
RESIDENCE OK KEY. AM) MRS. COSEY, \I"t M> BAYOU, MISS. 



in:. i' OX LIGHTS OF i m: /•(■ /. 

His A< < omplished Wife. 

In the year of 1901 it was the happiness of Dr. Cosey to be united 
in the holy bonds of wedlock to Mis-; Ida Hope Carter, of Helena, 
Ark. His estimable wife is a graduate of A. & M. College of Nor- 
mal. Alabama, and a woman of the highest intelligence and culture. 
For several years prior to her marriage she was a teacher in the 
schools of Alabama and Arkansas, and in that capacity she did much 
lor the welfare and advancement of the race She has all of the 
elements of a worthy and successful leader, and the team work of 
herself and her devoted husband can not be excelled. She is very 
popular on general principles, and she is a verv prominent factor 
in the success of her husband in all of his various race activities. 
She is a strong worker in the church, in the Sunday School and in 
fraternal circles. She is an earnest worker in whatever she attempts, 
and generally succeeds in everything that she attempts. 

J li- < )|> I 'IHI8M FOB THE Ra< E. 

.lust as this Southland has given to him the opportunity and 
privilege to earn an honest living and serve the Deeds of his fellows 
in Various capacities to the Lest of his ability. SO does the doctor 
believe that every other colored man with reasonable judgment ami 
push has a similar opportunity if he will but take advantage of it. 
He is optimistic of the rue's future, and be hopes to live to see the 
interests of the race in this Southland blossom like the rose. The 
doctor is one of the most aggressive and one of the most successful 
men of the race in the State of Mississippi, and his success is the 
common pride of the Baptist denomination, the Knights and Daugh- 
ters of Tabor, and every other activity affecting the welfare, pr os 
perity and glory of the r ic< 



m 




liEAVOS LldllTS OF THE RACE 93 



L. U. Gain, A.B., M.D., Birmingham, Ala. 

PROUD honor, indeed, it must have been to the immor- 
tal, political triumvirate that held as in the hollow of 
their hands the destiny of ancient Rome, the Mistress of 
the World; but, in the opinion of the writer, it is none 
the less an honor in this modern day of enlightenment to be a 
member of that distinguished medical triumvirate that hold in 
their keeping the respect, confidence and lives of thousands of 
the best citizens of Greater Birmingham in the State of Alabama. 
Such, however, is the good fortune of the affable, amiable and 
able physician, Dr. L. U. Goin, whose life story forms the burden 
of this narrative 

His Nativity and Education. 

The State of Alabama is dear to the doctor, not only as the place 
of his professional success as a practicing physician, but also as 
the place of his birth, for his infant hands were first held out to 
touch the big, round moon in the beautiful city of Florence, Novem- 
ber 24, 1873. 

His elementary education was received in the public schools of 
his native town, but was suddenly brought to a close at the tender 
age of twelve years while he was attending the public schools of 
the city of Birmingham, to which his parents had moved from Flor- 
ence. At the age of twelve he began his career as a business youth by 
operating a grocery. His main object in entering mercantile life 
was to earn sufficient money with which to gain the education that he 
was so anxious to acquire. By close application to business for six 
years he finally accumulated enough money to enable him to go off 
to college at the age of eighteen years. 

A Student of Fisk University. 

In the autumn of 1889 he matriculated in the preparatory depart- 
ment of Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. He made quite a repu- 
tation as a brilliant student while attending the university, and his 
precocity enabled him to gain two years in the completion of his 
college course. His pathway up the hill of learning was not strewn 
with flowers, but he had to endure many hardships and make many 
sacrifices to reach the final goal of his ambition. Notwithstanding 
the fact that his financial needs were so imperative as to make it 
necessary for him to discontinue his studies at college for a year 
or so, he finally graduated with honor in the class of 1896, receiving 
his classical degree of Bachelor of Arts. 






/:/:.!' OX LIGHTS OF I III: /.'./ /; 




DR. I I . (."IN 



\ \I i i>ii \i Sn in \ i 

While the doctor wa n student attending Kisk University, his 

teachers tried !-• prevnil upon him to studj For the ministry, but his 

iuil\ ambition was t<> become a practicing physician. So, in the 

autumn of 1896 li«- matriculated as a student in Meharn Medical 

lege, in. I having prosecuted his medical studies with unusual 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 95 

fidelity and zeal for three years, he graduated in the year of 1899 
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 

His Professional Success. 

The subject of this sketch has practiced in his home city since 
his graduation in the year of 1899., and he has achieved a profes 
sional success of which any physician may well be proud. He has 
a very extensive practice among the best peoph of the Magic City, 
and he is generally known and esteemed as one of the most capable 
representatives of his profession. He is a member of the surgical 
staff of the Home Hospital of the city of Birmingham, one of the 
creditable institutions for the alleviation of the sick and the afflicted 
of the race. He is also member of the National Association of 
Negro Physicians and Surgeons and the Alabama State Association 
of Negro Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists. He is the official 
medical examiner of the Knights of Pythias, the United Brothers 
of Friendship, and the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows of the 
city of Birmingham. 

Medical Examiner for Old Line Like Insurance Companies. 

In addition to his official relationship with several of the leading 
fraternities in the city of Birmingham, Dr. Goin is the medical 
examiner for two great old line insurance companies. The great 
life insurance companies, with their gigantic capital and immense 
resources, employ only the best medical talent to represent their 
interests. The fact that Dr. Goin has the honor of being the medi- 
cal examiner of these two great life insurance companies is a very 
high compliment to his worth as a man and his professional ability 
and skill as a physician. Since the year of 109.3 he has been the 
medical examiner for the Reliance Life Insurance Companay of 
Pittsburg. Pa., and since the year of 1906' he has served in a similar 
capacity for the Old Colony Life Insurance Company of Chicago, 
111. Both of these companies are old line life insurance companies, 
and represent a security for their patrons as solid as the rock of 
Gibraltar. 

Ax Enterprising Business Man. 

Dr. Goin is not only a successful physician, but he is an cuter 
prising business man. When he began the practice of his profession 
in the city of Birmingham in the year of 1899 he was in such poor 
circumstances that he had to borrow the money with which to pay 
his examination fee. For over a decade he has struggled to meet 
the highest demands of his profession, and not only has he signally 



/ / , <<n LIGHTS OF THE RA( E 

succeeded in his aspirations, but his splendid ability and thrift have 
enabled him to accumulate property whose value can not be expressed 
in less than five figures. 

The doctor is a progressive type of citizen, and be is as promi- 
nently identified with the business life of the city of Birmingham 
a- he is with its professional interests. He is a member of the 
Birmingham Negro Business League; he is a stockholder in the 
People's Grocery Company of Birmingham; he is a stockholder in 
tin Fayette Oil & Gas Company of Birmingham; and he is a 
director of the Prudential Savings Hank of the Magic City of the 
South. He is one of tin founders of Central Alabama College, an 
institution of learning, located at Mason City, near Birmingham, 
and operated under the auspices of the Freedmen's Aid Society. 

His Accomplished Wife. 

While the doctor was a student at Fisk University, his intellectual 
brilliancy and smooth appearance made him a popular favorite in 
social circles. Now. the doctor has ever kept his eyes open for the 
main chance. He seldom sleeps on an inviting proposition, and if 
perchance he should take a nap it would be with one eye open. 
There chanced to be at Fisk University a charming miss, whose 
image would constantly obtrude itself on the pages of the doctor's 
books whenever he would take them up for study. The remainder 
of this romance it is unnecessary to tell, except to state that in the 
year of IH ( J { J the aforesaid romance ended in the marriage of the 
worthy doctor to Miss Blanche Thornton, of Dallas, Texas. She was 
educated at bisk University, and for some time filled an honored 
position as teacher in the City schools of Dallas. She married her 
abb husband at the very beginning of his professional career, and 
she has been the main source of his inspiration and success. She 
i- a woman in whose character are exhibited all the domestic virtues 
and die is the idol of her dear husband and loving children. Susye 

Ma\ e and L. I . (loin, .1 r. 

Dr. (ioin is a man of attractive personality, and he is the personi- 
fication oi simplicity and modesty, lb has a large circle of friends 
that take pride in his professional success and rejoice because- the 
doctor has so well used his tune ami talent-, for the advancement and 
uplift ot his race. He lias been careful to prepare himself for the 
duties ot Ins profession and the responsibilities of life. He has 

WrOUghl well, and tin future will ha\e much that will bear testimony 
to the ability and worth of this most capable physician and useful 

lit izen. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 97 

William Alexander, Little Rock, Ark. 
National Grand Masted of the Mosaic Templars of America. 

HI-', name of Alexander, from the earliest days of 

antiquity, has been suggestive of influence and power. 




Ot' all tin mighty monarchs and warriors that have 
wrought the defeat and overthrow of empires, prin- 
cipalities and kingdoms and determined the destiny of the human 
race, there was not one other that has left such an indclihh 
impression of his power and majesty as the mighty and peerless 
Alexander of the Macedonian empire of antiquity. Impelled by the 
magical power of that name, thousands of intelligent and thoughtful 
people have christened their children with this famous name; but 
whether Christian or surname, it is a name to conjure with, .and is 
synonymous of power and invincibility. The worthy subject of 
this narrative wears the mighty name of Alexander, and in the course 
of his lone; and creditable career he has won some memorable vie- 
tories, but they have been the victories of peace, rather than the 
triumphs of war. In his wake there has not been left the red trail 
of human slaughter, but the triumphs of honorable peace. 

His Birthplace. 

Mr. Alexander is a native of the State of .Mississippi, but he has 
been an honored citizen of the State of Arkansas for such a long time 
that he can claim all of the prerogatives of a native son. He was 
born in Columbus. Mississippi, May Hi. 1 S(>7- and spent the deys 
of his early youth in his native State. He has no apology to make 
for having first seen the light of day in the great and progressive 
State of Mississippi, for that State has the proud distinction of 
having produced a greater percentage of the eminent men of the 
race than any other Southern State. Influenced by the proud record 
of his native State, it was but natural that he should have striven to 
become a great and useful man. In the year of 1880 he quit his 
native State and followed the star of empire to the State of Arkan- 
sas, virgin in soil, inexhaustible in natural resources, and teeming 
with unlimited opportunities for any hard-working, ambitious per 
son to rise in life. 

His Education. 

The educational advantages of the subject were along the line ot 
the average colored youth of his time. In addition to the training 



■ 



/./:.]< ON LIOHl - OF 1 Hi: RA( 1. 




\\ II. I I Wl ,\1 EXANDE i: 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 99 

that he received in the public schools of his native State, he had the 
privilege of attending Tougaloo University, one of the educational 
landmarks of the State. Incorporated and organized in the early 
days of the race's freedom, it is one of the pioneer universities of 
the race, and it has done incalculable service in promoting the wel- 
fare and uplift of the race. It is an institution that is famous in the 
annals of the universities of the South, and it has a strong and 
abiding hold upon the affections of the colored people, not only of 
the State of Mississippi, but of the whole Southland. It was when a 
student of this historic institution of learning that Mr. Alexander 
received the intelligence and inspiration to be something worthy and 
honorable in life. He is a serviceable man, and thoroughly equipped 
for the serious duties which the exigencies of the present age impose 
upon him. 

A Merchant and Contractor. 

As it has already been stated, Mr. Alexander emigrated to the 
State of Arkansas in the year of 1880. He went there determined 
to succeed in any honorable work that his hands might find to do. 
Having succeeded in accumulating sufficient capital, in the course 
of time he opened up in the mercantile business, operated it for 
fifteen years and gained in it a foundation for a competency in life. 
At the same time, when he was engaged in mercantile life, he became 
one of the largest contracting painters in the State of Arkansas. 
His business as a contracting master painter became so successful 
that it was necessary for him to keep in his constant employment 
from twenty to twenty-five skilled artisans. 

National Grand Master of the Mosaic Templars of America. 

The subject of this sketch first became a member of the Mosaic 
Templars of America in the year of 1905. He at once entered with 
heart and soul into the work of the order, and strove in every possible 
way to promote its growth and prosperity. His rise to a position 
of influence and power in the councils of the organization has been 
one of the marvels of the times. It was simply meteoric, dazzling in 
its rapidity. There is nothing certain in this life but change and 
death. This fact gives rise to what is popularly called opportunity. 
If there should be neither change nor death, there would be only 
the most limited opportunity for promotion and honor. It is enough 
to state that there is no opportunity for a man that is not prepared 
for it. In the year of 1908, at the general session of the order in 
Paducah. Ky., Sir. Alexander was elevated to the exalted office of 
National Grand Master of the Mosaic Templars of America, to 
succeed Mr. C. W. Keatts. who had departed this life January 16, 



BEA( 019 LI GUI - OF I III'. TtAi E 

1908. Ill' lamented «>i ti*< r was on< of the founders <»i the fratern- 
ity, ••Hid held .111 honored place in th< esteem and affections of the 
members of the order th.it f< u men can ever hope t«> attain. Sin.. 
his elevation to the position «>t National Grand Master of thi order 
tin present incumbent has shown himself t.> be the right man in the 
right place. II-- has kept paci with the true spirit of fraternal 
progress^ and has triumphantly led his organization to the van 
of the fraternities of the race. He is a man that believes in doing 
things ami getting results. II- is not satisfied for the fraternity 
merely to hold its own, hut he believes that it should yearly show a 
substantial growth and progress. 

'I'm National Grano Templi Building. 

In his tirst annual address after his elevation to tin office of 
National Grand Master, Mr. Alexander recommended that the order 
erect a National Temple Building, who-, site should be in the 
city of Little Hock. Arkansas, and whose cost should be titty thou- 
sand dollars ($50, . That tin- recommendation of the National 

Grand Master met the hearty endorsement and approval of tin' 
Leaden of the organization is evidenced by the fact that the Temple 
Building is already in process of construction, and will be probably 
in readiness for occupancy long before the grand session of the order 
in the city --t Little Rock, Arkansas, in August. 1911. The Temple 
Huil.lniL' is a magnificent, substantial, five-story structure, built on 

the must lern plan: and provided with every convenience for 

lodge, office and store purposes. This mammoth building is not 
onh a en. lit to tin- progressive organization that is erecting it. hut 
it is a credit to tin whole Negro rae- . 

Uniform Rank Dep \k 1 mint. 

In his tirst annual address to the Grand Temple, the National 

Grand M ister, Mr. William Alexander, also recommended the addi 
tion of the Uniform Hank Department to the National Order of the 
Mosaic Templars of America. Th< object of this department is to 

organizi the n bers of the temples of the order into companies. 

which shall make a study of military tactics and military science 
M a fraternal point of view. Such training is imperative among 
tin young men of the race, wh0S< only opportunity for such train- 
ing is limit, d t.> fraternal organizations of the race in the South. 
That tin- recommendation of the National (.rand Master met the 

pproval of thl order is shown bj tin fact that there are in the 

: ' r l'-l I. . n uniform ranks of men and fix e uniform ranks of ladies. 

all full\ and spl. ndi.lK equipped. This new departure will add 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 101 

much to the order in the way of both training and attraction, and 
pnt the order in this respect on terms of equality with the other 
progressive fraternities of the race. 

Growth of the Order During His Administration. 

Since Mr. Alexander took hold of the leadership of the organiza- 
tion in the year of 1908 it has experienced the greatest growth in its 
history. In this short period of time his unremitting labors for the 
order have resulted in the addition of fifteen thousand (15,000) 
members to the organization. 

Very few organizations of a fraternal character can show a growth 
of over five thousand members annually for a period of nearly three 
years. 

His Duties as National Grand Master. 

As National Grand Master of the order. Mr. Alexander is travel- 
ing most of the time, and in his official itinerary he covers eighteen 
States in which the order operates. His duties are of the most 
responsible character. He is the general superintendent and chief 
executive of the order, and his duties as laid down in the constitu- 
tion are as follows: To preside at all meeting of the C. of M. and 
Grand Temple, and enforce all the rules thereof; to institute the 
quarterly password and. with the assistance of the Grand Scribe, 
to furnish it to all the temples in good standing; to sign all orders 
on the National Grand Treasurer, drawn according to law; to sign 
all documents and papers that require his signature in order to 
authenticate them properly; to fill all vacancies that arc caused bv 
death; to revoke the commission of any officer appointed by him; 
to establish temples and make passes in degrees; to appoint and 
commission any brother as a National Deputy Grand Mosaic Master 
to superintend in establishing temples, or to perform any other busi- 
ness pertaining to the good of the order; to suspend any temple 
working under the charter of the Mosaic Temple, when failing to 
comply with the constitution and general laws of the order; to visit 
the State Grand Lodges of the various State jurisdictions; to settle 
all disputes and points of law: to examine the hooks and accounts 
of the various officers and see that all National and State Grand 
Lodge assessments are collected before said lodges can be repre- 
sented in the State Grand Lodge. All new laws passed by the 
State Grand Lodges must be referred to him to submit to the 
National Committee of Management for its approval or rejection. 

His Estim \nr.E Wife. 

In the balmy month of August, 1901, Mr. Alexander was united 
in the bonds of holy wedlock, to Miss Minnie Cannon, of Spartan- 



LIGHTS OF THE RA< E 

burgj South Carolina. His wife is a woman of education and ability. 
She n is a student of I - irtanburg High School and received 
therein a broad and liberal training. She is a conspicuous leader 
in fraternity circles in the State of Arkansas. She is the worthy 
High Priestess of the Ladies and Knights of Honor of Arkansas. 
In th. of a 3 visits two hundred lodges in the State, 

with a total membership oi lour thousand ladi- Those same 
elements of character that have elevated her to Leadership and honor 
in the councils of the Ladies and Knights of Honor have also made 
her invaluable to the success of her husband. She is a ceaseless 
worker in whatever she attempts to do, and is capable of giving a 
good account of her stewardship in every undertaking. Mr. Alex- 
ander is thrice blessed in having a wife of such unusual fidelity. 
- itility and general ability. 

An Estimate of Mr. Alexander. 

Not only has the subject of this sketch been an unqualified suc- 
■ rything that he has attempted, but he has given evidence 
of the highest capacity for leadership of both institutions and 
men. In his experience, both as a merchant and contractor, he 
u is more or less successful in the accumulation of money and prop- 
erty. 11< is a gentleman of pleasing personality and engaging 
manners. He has a host of friends that are bound to him not 
only by the ti< s of fraternal unity and love, but by the ties of his 
congenial personality and sterling character. He lias many of the 
elements of huh rship which commend him to the masses of the 
people of his race. He is an ambitious man, and seeks power for 
the good that he can render to his people, rather than for the mere 
hue .>t power itself. If he has achieved such marvelous results in 
the short time of his incumbency in office, what may not be expected 
of him with more i xperience in his exalted office? 



M 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 103 



Professor J. A. Martin, U.S.. Jackson, Miss. 

President of the Mississippi Association of Teachers in Colored 

Schools 'and Principal of the Smith-Robertson 

Public School. 

]HE grand old State of Mississippi is not only a State 
of vast, varied and inexhaustible natural resources, made 
so by her fertile soil, equable climate and the unremit- 
ting industry of her citizens, but it is a State that 
takes the lead in the production of serviceable and useful men. 
Great indeed may be the material resources of any State, but 
greater still must the men be to build a State and raise it 
to the pinnacle of grandeur and glory. The proud State of Mis- 
sissippi has ever teemed with distinguished men, whose superb intel- 
lects have been not only the pride and glory of the State itself, but 
the common inheritance of the nation. While many of the brightest 
intellects in the history of the State could not lay claim to nativity 
in the State, yet many of the ablest and most illustrious men of the 
State have grown up from birth to maturity within the borders of 
the State. Among the distinguished and eminent sons of the race 
whose efforts for the advancement and uplift of the race have been 
productive of such beneficent and lasting results may be mentioned 
the worthy, serviceable and race-loving man, whose life story is 
herein briefly narrated. 

His Birthplace. 

Professor Martin was born in Kirkwood, Mississippi, January 
5, 1863. It is true that when he first came to these mundane shores 
his infant eyes beheld the fires of national conflict, and his infant 
ears heard the din of dreadful musketry and the roar of hostile 
cannon; yet the violence of that fratricidal war did not leave its 
impress on his character, for he has ever been an advocate of peace 
and good will toward all mankind. His early life was a struggle 
for existence on the farm, and the labors and hardships to which he 
was inured had much to do with shaping his character and preparing 
him for his subsequent life of activity and usefulness among his 
people. 

His Parents. 

One of the great misfortunes in the life of the subject of this 
sketch was that he did not have the protection, can- and assistance 
of a father, For that reason he was thrown almost wholly on his 



I'M 



/./. / \ LIGH1 - OF THE /'./ / 




PROl [, \. MARTIN 



BEACOA LIGHTS OF THE RACE 105 

own resources to tight the battles of life for himself. In the 
crucial days of youth the slop of Life needs a careful and faithful 

pilot or it may drift through the breakers and be dashed against the 
impending rocks to its destruction. But if the youth was not blessed 
with the protection, care and love of a father, lie was infinitely 
blessed with the encouragement and loving devotion of one of the 
dearest mothers in the whole wide world. .Mrs. Jennie Martin, hi-. 
estimable and devoted mother, had all of the virtues of the Roman 
matron of old. and whatever success Professor Martin has achieved 
in life is a monument to his mother's devotion, sacrifices and love. 
In the struggling days of his youth there came to his rescue his dear 
uncle. Mr. R. L. Levy, who taught him the virtue of economy and 
the real potency of the almighty dollar in human affairs. His uncle, 
with almost parental interest, encouraged him to work hard, save his 
money, obtain an education and prepare himself for the great respon- 
sibilities that the future would impose upon him. 

His Education'. 

In the early days of his youth the educational advantages of 
Professor Martin were more imaginary than real. Living, as he 
did. on a farm, and amidst the lowly conditions incident thereto, 
he enjoyed only the barest rural opportunities for attending school 
until he had reached the age of sixteen years. The future great 
educator of his race had to be contented with the privilege of attend- 
ing school for the period of one or two months in a year until his 
glorious release from the toil, privation and bondage of farm lite. 
In the year of 1 87!),, when he had entered his sixteenth year, the 
ambition of nearly a lifetime was in part realized, for he was able 
to shake the plantation dust off his feet and embrace his first oppor- 
tunity to attend a real first-class school instead of a log cabin school 
house in the backwoods. In the memorable year of 1ST!) the ambi- 
tious youth bid a joyful goodby to the old farm and went off to 
Alcorn A. & M. College, to live the new and more attractive life of a 
student. There in those classic walls he toiled with knitted brow 
■•nd midnight oil for six long yens and won the palm of reward for 
his diligent application to duty. It was indeed a proud moment in 
lis life when, on the occasion of his graduation in the month of 
June, 1885. he received his diploma of graduation from that historic 
institution. 

His Career as a Schoolmaster. 

Thai I lie record of Professor Martin as a student of Alcorn 
University must have been highly satisfactory to the president and 
faculty of that institution is evident from the fact that within a 



/< "A" LIGH1 - OF THE RA( E 

:<u months after his graduation from that school he was honored 
with an appointment t<> a professorship in his Alma Mater. He 
timed his duties of professor in Alcorn College in January. 1886, 
i filled with great credit the duties of his position for sevi □ years, 
or until the year oi I s S< eering his scholastic relationship with 

Mater in th< y< ir of 1 893, he immediately became principal 
of the Yazoo Graded School No. 2, and served in that capacity for 
ti\. years in succession. While serving as principal of that school 
had the honor nt graduating the first three classes that the school 
r had to complete the course of study. In the year of 1898 he 
r< sign) d the principalship of the public school in Yazoo City in 
<>rd< r t<> assume the duties of principal of Smith-Robertson public 
school of Jackson, Mississippi, a position that he has already filled 
with credit tor more than a decade. It has been the fortune of very 
tew men to succeed so well in a professional capacity, for not only 
he given perfect satisfaction to his constituency, but he has 
merited the favor and best wishes of the educational powers that be. 
Professor Martin has the honor of being one of the few men of the 
race that has consecrated himself to the teachers' profession for the 
purpose of making it his life work. In his estimation teaching is 
not merely a profi ssion, but it is a real calling, and as such the 
professor considers it to be as imperative to him as the call to the 
inspired preach* r to expound the Word. He has the characteristics 
of the true teacher, and he has uever made the profession of teach- 
ing a mire stepping stone to some other profession. It is true that 
the financial rewards of the teacher are very little in comparison 
with the emoluments in the other so-called learned professions, but 
great as money is in the affairs of the world, it can never give to 
tin- true disciple of the profession that perfect satisfaction which 
the conscientious performance of duty toward those plastic and 
receptive mind- in the school room can always give, and which in a 
Bur< compensates the teacher for his sacrifices in other respects. 

I lis ProI i BSIONAt I [ONORS. 

x " oth< r schoolmaster of the race in the State of Mississippi has 
l>e, n more highly honored in a professional way than has Professor 

■Mm. His great sympathy with those who are struggling in the 

proiessinn. his consecrated efforts t,, help in the great work of 

Uplifting the race, his matchless ability as a teacher, his splendid 
reputation as a school executive, and his general faculty for getting 

results in every department of the teacher's profession, have com- 
mended and endeared him to ,11 of his fellow workers, who have 

I I I ii glad of (lie opportunity to confer upon him every honor in their 
J"'"' 1 ' He is the honored President of the Mississippi Association 



BEACo.\ LIGHTS OF THE RACE 107 

of Teachers in Colored Schools, and has filled this exalted position 
since the organization of the association. So highly is he appre 
ciated and such a strong hold has he on the affection and loyalty 
of his professional constituents that he has been repeatedly re-elected 
to his office without the semblance of opposition. He is also Treas 
urer of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools. 
For the past twenty-five years his labors in behalf of the welfare 
and uplift of his race have been a source of inspiration to thousands 
of young men and young women, who never would have attained 
their greatest possibilities without such inspiration and example. 
He believes in the value of Christian education, and his daily life is 
in conformity with the doctrine that he preaches. 

He Educated His Sisters. 

One of the most suggestive and most impressive thoughts of life 
is that we should lift others while we climb. This has been one of 
the guiding principles of the professor's life. Not only has he 
played a conspicuous part in the uplift of his race, but he has per- 
sonally interested himself in the education of his sisters. He has 
provided for his sisters educational advantages of the best character, 
and has to an extent made a compensation in them for the educa- 
tional advantages of which he was deprived in youth. 

His Wealth. 

It has been the experience of very few teachers to gain a com- 
petency in life while still engaged in the professioin. Teachers are 
not expected to amass riches in this terrestrial life, but they are 
to look for their reward in the Great Beyond. But there are excep- 
tions to all rules, and in this respect Professor Martin is a very con- 
spicuous exception. Though his salary as a teacher has been small 
in comparison with his real worth, yet he has by exercising frugality, 
economy and thrift attained a financial standing that is held by but 
few men of the race. He has carefully husbanded and skillfully 
invested his earnings in real estate and in other solid investments, 
and the result is that he is one of the wealthiest colored men in the 
State. Professor Martin is an isolated example of a wealthy 
man still engaged in the profession of teaching. His extraordinary 
success professionally and financially demonstrates the fact that he 
is a first-class business man. as well as a high class schoolmaster. 
He is one of the founders of the American Trust & Savings Bank of 
Jackson, Miss., and he has served in an official capacity in that bank 
since its organization. He is First Vice-President of the bank, and 
has for some time served as Acting President of the same. The 



/;/../' <>.\ Lh.ll 1 - OF THE /'./■ /.' 

presidency of the bank has I • en repeatedly offered t « > him. but he 
has consistently declined to accept it. because of his fear that the 
onerous duties <>f President would interfere with his efficiency in 

tin- school room. 1I-- is tirst of ill a schoolmaster, and lit- is unwill- 
ing to do aught that will interfere with his conception of the proper 
performance of his duties. Professor Martin is probably the wealth- 
i- st schoolmaster of color in tin- State. He is one of the largest realty 
holders in the city of Jackson, .Miss. He has tenement property 
in different parts of tin- city, and the writer, while visiting the city 
of Jackson, had tin privilege of seeing much of the property that is 
owned by Professoi Martin. The sight was so unusual and so 
amazing to tin writer that he could hardly realize the possibility of 
such. Tlie worthy professor is not only the leading professional 
school master of Jackson, Miss., but he is financially one of the city's 

most substantial citizens. 

The I'hoi i:-soh*s Estimable Wife. 

Good fortune his smiled on Professor Martin in more ways than 
One. Though the days of his youth were beset with struggles and 
trials, yet the days of his mature manhood have been ample com 
pensation tor the privations of former years. While professional 
slice, ss. high honors and wealth have with the passing years come 
to Professor Martin, \ <-t one of the greatest blessings of his life 
came to him when he came in possession of his accomplished and 
devoted wife. In the year of 1895 Professor Martin succeeded in 
winning the heart and hand of Miss Marie Fitzpatrick, of New 
Orleans, Louisiana. She is a woman of culture and refinement and 

tru. helj <t and companion in every application of the term. 

She has wisely managed the affairs of her household and reared the 
four children that were entrusted to her care, protection and love. 
She is trained in the science of domestic economy, and her wise 
administration of affairs has materially assisted her husband to rise 
I., his present eminent position in the financial and business world. 
Her devoted and appreciative husband is glad of the opportunity 
thus publicly to express his appreciation tor his wife's invaluable 
assistance to him in all of his undertakings. She is not only his dear 
wife, but she is his I. us,,, ess partner and counselor, and by hearken- 
ing to her advice he will never suffer loss or experience adverse 
fortune. 

I 0N( l i 8ION. 

I h. (irol.s-or is i man of distinguished appearance. Nature was 

indeed lavish m her u r »i ts to him. for she u r a\e to him a physical, 
mental and moral grandeur that me does not confer upon all mortal 



BEACON LIU UTS OF THE RAVE 109 

beings. He is kind, pleasant and affable and one of the most 
popular as well as one of the most useful citizens of his home city. 
He is a man of versatile accomplishments and is a prominent factor 
in the social, fraternal; business, religious and educational life of 
his city and State. He has made good in every capacity, and meas- 
ured from this standpoint, he is one of the ideal leaders of the race 
in the South. His extraordinary success in life in spite of the fact 
that he had no father to assist him in his struggles, and that he 
started comparatively late in life to acquire his education, ought to 
be an incentive to every young man and young woman of the race to 
work in patience for a higher and nobler life. The race is fortunate 
in having such a representative type of citizen as the worthy sub- 
ject of this sketch, whom everybody knows, respects, loves and 
honors. 




110 



/.'/.'./' ON l.l'.ll i - OF THE RAl E 




\ V [OHNSON 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



111 



A. N. Johnson, Nashville, Tenn. 



Funeral Directory. 




NE of the cardinal virtues of progressive manhood is 
push. It matters not how great the mental attainments 
of a man may be, he can never become an eminently 
successful man unless the elements of push enter 
largely in the structure of his character. The gateway to 
success is labeled "Push/' and only those who read this mystic 
symbol will succeed in entering therein. If through the instru- 
mentality of push a man of mediocre ability can scale the loftiest 
peaks of success, what may not be accomplished by a man of 
unusual ability when fortified with this most valuable asset of 
character? 

One of the very best examples of success in the ranks of the 
Negro race in this whole country is that of Mr. A. X. Johnson, the 
widely known, popular and wealthy funeral director and business 
man "of Nashville, Tenn. He is a conspicuous example of a pro- 
gressive and aggressive business man, and in that capacity he is a 
beacon light that throws its refulgent and penetrating rays across 
the whole racial sky. 

His Nativity. 

Mr. Johnson is a native of the beautiful and progressive State 
of Alabama, and first came to these mundane shores at the close of 
the Civil War. Being strictly a post-bellum product, his battles 
have been waged and his triumphs have been won in the arena ot 
peace. He proudly wears on his brow the laurels of honorable and 
successful achievements in the domain of peace, and in this respect 
he is as much a conqueror as the hero on the field of martial conflict. 

A Precocious Youth. 



Mr. Johnson has an innate capacity for getting results; nor does 
it take him a lifetime to accomplish what he may want to do. He 
was a precocious youth, and this statement is borne out by the tact 
that he was a school teacher at the early age of fourteen years. He 
had not only begun his political career, but he had taken unto him- 
self a companion for life by the time he had reached his majority. 



H2 / / ./' ".v LIGW1 - OF THE RAi /.' 

Ih- Polith m Honors in Alabama. 

In these lit- \-irs very few nun of the race have been more 
1 1 . i ] 1 \ honored politically than has tin subject of this sketch. 
Notwithstanding the fact that he is comparatively a young man, Mr. 
Johnson is a veteran politician, and has figured conspicuously in 
the political annals of the Stat of Alabama for over a score of 
If. has been honored with membership on the Republican 
State Executivi Committee of the State of Alabama ever since he 
was in Ins twenty first year, and he still serves in that capacity in 
spit, c.i the fad that he is a business man, living in the old Volunteer 
- t< II. s< r\.«l in tli< Internal Revenue Department, and in the 
l: lw i\ Postal Service until the year of 1893, when he began his 
meteoric and spectacular carei r as a business man in the city of 
Mobile, Ala. He was a member of the famous "Big lour" of the 
of Alabama, a political combination that held the principal 
political lioinirs of the State of Alabama as in the hollow of their 
hands. He «^ honored with election to must all of the Republican 
N tion.il Conventions that have been held since the first nomination 
of the lamented President William McKinley in the year of 1896. 
Hi had the honor of serving as Chairman of the Republican Cam- 
paign Committee when the last Republican Congressman was elected 
and s< it'll from the State lit" Alabama. He also enjoys the unique 
distinction of having been the last member of the Negro race to 
receive the strict party Republican congressional nomination in tin- 
State of Alabama. 

A Newspaper M \<.\ ite. 

In Ins career, both as politician and business man. Mr. Johnson 
appreciated the great power of the press as a molder of public 
opinion. It is the inalienable birthright of every American citizen, 
irrespective of race, to "toot his own horn." and in recognition of 
this tact Mr. Johnson founded two strong and influential news 

P ip. re, the Mobih Press, which is the oldest weekly publication of 
th< rac. in the Stat.- of Alabama, and the State Republican, which 
was tor man} years the leading organ of the Republican party in 
th< Si it- ol Alabama. In the days of his zenith in political affairs 
iii the Mil' ot Alabama, these two valuable newspapers were the 
vehich l>.\ mean of which his able, facile and fearless pen laid 
1'ar. the sophistries and pretensions of the opposite party, and 
instilled th< fundamental and never-dying principles <>f his own 

pari \ . 

\ Sl'ccessfci Businesss Man. 

I' 1 'I" year oi is, m ,.. Johnson entered upon his eminently 
■ ssful car. er as an undertaker in the citi of Mobile, Ala., and in 



BEACOJV LIGHTS OF THE RACE 113 

the course of less than two decades his aggressive business methods 
built up possibly the greatest undertaking establishment in the 
South. His ambition has ever been to lead in every worthy enter- 
prise. .-hhI he will not be satisfied with a subordinate rank in the 
business that has made him famous the country over. Having 
reached the zenith of his possibilities in the city of Mobile. I 
deeided to dispose of his business in that city and establish a simi- 
lar business in a more cosmopolitan-like center, in which he mighl 
be justified in expanding his business to any reasonable proportions 
and to an extent that would have been impossible in a city of the 
size and importance of Mobile. So in the year of 1907 Mr. John- 
son quit the city of Mobile, moved to the city of Nashville. Tenn., 
and there established what is generally thought to be the finest, 
costliest and most magnificent funeral directory of the Negro race 
in the whole world. In this grand business establishment is found 
the climax of Mr. Johnson's characteristic and laudable ambition 
to own in his own right the finest funeral directory in the world. 

The Johnson BUILDING. 

On coming to the city of Nashville. Tenn.. to engage in the under- 
taking business. Mr. Johnson succeeded in acquiring possession ot 
what was at one time the most elegant and most historic mansion 
in the Capital City of Tennessee. Located on a lot that is to.'! by 
l()(i feet, this mammoth building is within a block of the State 
Capitol and right in the very heart of the city's business center. It 
is the most centrally located, and one of the most valuable business 
blocks that is owned by a Negro in the city of Nashville. In this 
building is located the funeral directory of Mr. Johnson, which for 
completeness, elegance and modernity of equipment can not be sur- 
passed in the wide world of Negro business enterprise. Every- 
thing is of the latest design and in harmony with the most fastidious 
taste. His delivery equipment is one of the wonders of the under- 
taking world, and consists of five elegant, modem, up-to-date fun- 
era] cars, seven first-class carriages and a plentiful variety of lan- 
daus, broughams. Berlin coaches and other necessary paraphernalia. 
One of the features of his delivery equipment is his costly and beau- 
tifully matched teams. There can be no demand for a funeral 
occasion for which he is not well prepared to give perfect satis 
faction, and the honor of interring the body of the Chief Magis 
trate of the nation would be merely a matter of course. Mr. John- 
son is one of the most expert men in the undertaking business that 
the country affords. He is the holder of licenses not only from sev- 
eral different States, but he is also provided with diplomas from 
several different colleges, certifying to his mastery of his business. 




^ \ • i 

N H Waitiw 

V. N. (nhnson's W in 1 1 • 

\ N ii 



BEACON Lie UTS OF THE RACE 115 

In the proper management of his funeral directory rive expert 
licensed embalmers are constantly employed. The name of Mr. 
Johnson is a synonym for perfection in his business and a guarantee 
as good as a government bond that the interests of* his patrons will 
be perfectly safeguarded. 

A Benefactor to Many. 

Not only has Mr. Johnson achieved sensational success in his 
business, but he has been instrumental in training and setting up in 
the undertaking business some of the leading undertakers of the 
South, and in this respect he has proved himself to be a benefactor 
to the race. He has been a liberal patron of the worthy men of the 
race, and his personal influence and financial support have raised 
several men to success and leadership. 

His Personality. 

Mr. Johnson is first, last and all the time one of the premier 
business men of the race, and real business methods form the cardi- 
nal principles of his life. In addition to his mammoth funeral 
directory, he is identified with other business enterprises of the race. 
He is First Vice-President of the People's Savings Bank & Trust 
Company, of Nashville, Tenn., one of the leading banking institu- 
tions of the race in the Rock City. It is but natural that fortune 
should have lavished her golden smiles upon him as a reward for his 
unparalleled business enterprise, aggressiveness and push. He is 
an active, indefatigable worker, and is never satisfied with any- 
thing less than absolute supremacy in his business. He has the 
restless, adventurous and indomitable spirit that is said to be the 
all-conquering trait of the Anglo-Saxon race. He is one of the 
wealthiest men of the race, and has accumulated his wealth in a 
legitimate and honorable way. His business motto is "Owe No 
Man," and he lives up to this cardinal principle, both in the letter 
and in the spirit. He is one of the largest taxpayers in both the 
States of Tennessee and Alabama, and there is not a cent of encum- 
brance on his vast realty holdings. He is a gentleman of pleasing 
personality and striking appearance, and his presence would have 
added dignity .and grace to the Roman Senate of olden times, if he 
had chanced to live in those historic times. He is in the fullest 
acceptation of the term a successful man. and his indomitable spirit 
has carved for him a name that is inscribed high on the eternal rock 
of business pre-eminence and undying fame. 



116 



BEACOS LIGHTS OF THE It.h E 




\l. \|. PON 



/»•/;./' OX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



117 




Rev. M. M. Ponton, A.M.. S.T.D., . Tack son. Miss. 

President of Campbell College. 

O RACK has a monopoly of either ignorance or intelli- 
gence vice or virtue, hut in all the races of mankind there 
arc men of high intellectual and moral endowment that 
have risen far above the environment of hirth and cir- 
cumstances, plucked the choicest petals from the rose of oppor- 
tunity and made for themselves a name and fame that will be as 
lasting as the eternal hills. Among the able, scholarly and brilliant 
men of the Negro race in America who have helped to dignify, mag- 
nify and glorify the intelligence, character and worth of the race, 
no other member is entitled to more credit for services rendered in 
the cause of the race's uplift and advancement than the distinguished 
educator and eminent divine. Dr. Mungo Melanchthon Ponton, whose 
life story forms the burden of this narrative. 



His Nativity and Parentage. 

The subject of this sketch is one of the gifted sons of the state 
of North Carolina, and was horn at Twilight, Halifax County. May 
10. 18.57. He was the son of Henry and Rachel Ponton, both of 
whom were the first horn of their parents after their parents' 
arrival in America from the west coast of Africa. Thus Dr. Ponton 
has not only the royal blood of the land of Africa in his veins, hut 
he has also a mixed strain of blood inherited on the side of his father, 
who was a product of the anomalous conditions which have ever been 
a blight upon American social life. 

His father and mother were slaves, and had no opportunities for 
gaining an education, but they were people of unusual intelligence 
for their day and time. That his father was one of nature's noble 
sons is evidenced by the fact that he toiled, struggled and sacrificed 
until he had saved enough money with which to purchase his own 
freedom. Having purchased his own freedom, it became the ambi- 
tion of his life to toil and purchase the freedom of his family, but 
the immortal Lincoln, with a few strokes of his pen. emancipated 
his dear wife and children and made further effort on his part 
unnecessary. 



A Struggling Youth on the Farm. 

The early days of Dr. Ponton were spent on the farm, and the 
hardships and severe discipline that were incident to farming lit'-: 



118 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE /.'./■ /.' 

were a school of preparation tor a higher and larger sphere of ser- 
vice and usefulness in alter life. No man can truly appreciate a 
blessing unless he has been compelled to toil and suffer tor it. The 
blessings of liberty and opportunity that our race now enjoys were 
purchased at an awful sacrifice of blood and treasure, and they will 
never be fully appreciated until our race will have suffered even 
greater miseries, injustices and wrongs than those which it is now 
undergoing. Having served a thorough apprenticeship on the farm 
and having mastered every detail of that life, the subject of this 
sketch quit the farm, went out in the great, busy world, and fol- 
lowed divers ocupations in order to earn money with which to gain 
an education. No kind of work was too hard, and no kind of 
drudgery too severe tor him to do in order to procure the means that 
would enable him to realize the greatest ambition of his life. 

A Hard Struggle Up the Hill of Learning. 

Very few youth of the Negro race ever labored more patiently 
and more earnestly to gain an education than did the subject of this 
narrative. Indeed, in these modern days, education is handed on a 
silver platter, figuratively speaking, to the youth of the race. His 
dear mother's limited information iirst placed his feet in learning's 
pathway, but the subject himself had to do all of the rest He 
learned the art of penmanship and correspondence by diligently 
copying and re-copying the writing on the cast-away envelopes that 
he found in the waste baskets in the railroad office in which he 
worked as a menial employe. The only education that he ever gained 
in the days of his early youth was of the dig-and-get-it variety. He 
had no opportunities except those which he himself made, and he had 
no other encouragement except his unconquerable desire and deter- 
mination to do something worthy and to he somebody. 

After the (hath of his parents he purchased t'or his use a geog 
raphy, an arithmetic, a history and a slate, and with these instru- 
ments of intellectual warfare he battered down the citadels of his 
own ignorance and added wonderfully to the sum total of his 

knowledge. In the course of time he quit his native home and 

traveled quite extensively in quesl of information concerning the 
great outside world, which had been a sealed book to him up to that 
time. While traveling his eyes were opined to the great possibili- 
ties that the world presents to a man that is thoroughly prepared 
to serve the interests of the world. A rista of opportunity was 
opened up to bis understanding, which fired his ambition to pre 
par- himself to till those wonderful opportunities. Finally, in tin- 
year of 1881, the subject settled down in the city of Cleveland, 0., 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 119 

where he took advantage of the opportunity to attend night school 
at the Spencerian Business College. Greatly encouraged by his 

experience and progress in the city of Cleveland, in the month of 
September, 1882, he matriculated as a student at Lincoln University, 
from which institution of learning, after experiencing many diffi- 
culties and hardships, extending over six years of unremitting men- 
tal application, he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 
the year of 1888. 

A Stuoent at Many Different Colleges. 

In the autumn of 1888, the subject of this sketch matriculated at 
Yale Theological Seminary, but having not been satisfied with that 
institution of learning, he entered the famous Boston University as 
a student, from which institution he had the honor of graduating in 
the month of June, 1891 , with the degree of Bachelor of Sacred 
Theology. During the three years of his student life at Boston 
University he took special lectures at Newton Theological Semi- 
nary, Andover Theological Seminary, Howard Theological Semi- 
nary, Episcopal Theological Seminary. Cambridge, Mass., and the 
College of Liberal Arts of Boston University. 

His Career as ax Educator. 

It is but natural that a man of such erudition and brilliancy of 
scholarship should devote his unusual talents to the education of 
his people. The consequence is that the life work of the subject has 
been chiefly identified with the cause of education and religion. It 
has been the fortune of very few men of the race to be able to serve 
the interests of their race with the same degree of efficiency and 
success as Dr. Ponton has been doing and still is doing. He taught 
a private class of ministers in the city of Boston, Mass. Quite a 
number of years ago he taught a public school in Van Wert County. 
Northwest Ohio. He was formerly Principal of Shorter Univer- 
sity, Arkadclphia. Ark., now Shorter College, Argenta, Ark. He 
is the founder of Turner Theological Seminary, Morris Brown Col- 
lege, Atlanta, Ga., and he was also Dean of that institution and 
occupied for seven years the chair of Hebrew and Didactic The- 
ology. For four years he was Field Superintendent and Bible 
Lecturer for the John C. Martin Educational Fund for the training 
of Negro preachers, Sabbath School teachers and public school 
teachers throughout the Southern States. 

His Career as a Minister of the Gospel. 

Dr. Ponton is a minister of the gospel, and considers that field 
of labor as the real calling of his life. Of course, he is an eminent 



120 



BEACON UOIlT> "/ Till. H I E 



teacher also, but everj true minister of tin gospel is both a preacher 
and a teacher, and in this dual capacity hi can best serve the cause 
of humanity. His first appointment as a minister was at St. Paul 
A. M. E. Church, Cambridge, Mass.. a place which he served for 
only a tew months while In- was a theological student of Boston 
University. His second appointment was at Narragansett Pier, 
Rhode Island, a summer resort. Both of these appointments were 
in the New England Conference, and in the Episcopal district of 
Right Rev. Bishop H. M. Turner. From the New England Con- 
ference he was transferred to the Ohio Conference in the Episcopal 
district of Right Rev. Bishop D. A. Payne, and served at Bellaire, 
(ant«»n. Warren, Salem and Van Wert. While serving in that con- 
ference he had the honor of founding East Cleveland Mission, which 
has since developed into the well known Second A. M. E. Church of 
Cleveland. In the summer of 189* he transferred from the Ohio 
Conference to the Arkansas Conference, and for one year he was 
the pastor of St. Paul A. M. E. Church at Arkadelphia. In the 
year of 1896 he transferred to the Georgia Conference, in which 
he served some of the leading pastorates in the State. In addition 
to filling many other charges in the North Georgia Conference. Dr. 
Ponton served as pastor of St. James A. M. E. Church and Trinity 
A. M. E. Church, in the city of Atlanta. He succeeded Dr. Flipper, 
now Bishop Flipper, as pastor of St. Paul A. M. E. Church. At- 
lanta, Ga. 

A Scholar With Honored Degreks. 

Dr. Ponton is one of the most scholarly men of the race. He 
received his degree of Bachelor of Arts from Lincoln University 
in the year of 1SSS. In tin year of 1891 Boston University con- 
ferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology. In 
the year of 1904 Lincoln University conferred upon him the degree 
of Master of Art-, and in the year of 1905 Morris Brown College of 
Atlanta, (.a., conferred upon him the exalted degree of Doctor of 
Sacred Theology. Thus it may be seen that Dr. Ponton really 
studied and earned some of the highest honors from the leading 
universities of America, and that his name is worthy to be written in 
letters of t:<'ld and placid in the archives of America's most intel- 
lectual men. 

Tin Honored Presideni oi ( mipeell College, Jackson, Miss. 

In the year of 1906, Dr. Toiiton was recalled to Morris Brown 
College to fill the John C. Martin Bible Chair professorship. Hav- 
ing performed the duties of this position with his usual fidelity to 
d tit v and with his usual brilliancy, in the month of July. 1907. he 




1 Executive Board of Campbell College. Top row, reading from left to right :- 
I W. Han Sect.; Rev. I. |. Morant, Treas.: Rev. Win. Singleton. Chair Bottom row. 
reading from left toright:-kev.L.W W.Manaway: Rev. M. M. Ponton. President of Camp- 

bell 2?°lin e dscape View and Student Body of Campbell College, showing Bell Tower. Band 

Stand, and Bovs' Dormitory. _ .... . . 

3. President Ponton, walking across the Campus. Band Stand Favilhon. and (. II - 

4 President Mungo M. Ponton, S.T. D.. of Campbell ' - in lackson, Miss.,atG - 
Building. 



122 /■'/:. U ON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

resigned his professorship at Morris Brown College to accept the 
presidency of Campbell College, Jackson, Miss., in which institution 

In has not only performed the exalted duties of President, hut he 
fills the chair of Revealed Religion ami Evidences of Christianity. 
Campbell College is one of tin- Luminaries in the educational firma- 
ment of tlic State of Mississippi, and it is thr pride id' the A. M. P. 
Church of that State. I nder the splendid leadership of Dr. Pon- 
ton the college has heen revivified and put into a state of aggressive 
ness for efficient work among the people for whom it was estab- 
lished to elevate and uplift. The college has an enrollment of 
nearly five hundred students and employs fifteen teachers on its 
faculty. Dr. Ponton is doing a great work as President of this 
worthy institution of learning, and his success is not only a source 
of pride and gratification to his own denomination, hut to the wdiole 
Negro race. 

Sparks of Inspiration From the Anvil of His Life. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Ponton is a minister of the 
gospel and an eloquent divine, yet his very life, humble in origin. 
filled with struggles and hardships in its early days, and now beau- 
tified and glorified with unbounded success, is the most eloquent ser- 
mon that he has ever preached in the course of his brilliant career. 
Bv reading his life and comparing his humble origin with his present 
position of influence, dignity and power, every ambitious youth of 
the race may be encouraged, stimulated and inspired to persevere 
until he reaches the goal of his ambition. From an untutored, hard- 
working hoy on a farm to the presidency of one of the great colleges 
of the race is a sublime height to climb, and this great honor is a 
fitting monument to las patience, perseverance and determination 
to make himself serviceable to his race, to the cause of humanity 
and to the Creator of mankind. The doctor is really a heaeon light 
of inspiration that Lights u|> the pathway of hope tor the youth of 

the whole race, and no son or daughter of Africa should lie discour- 
aged in the ambition to aspire to the best and the greatest in Ameri- 
can life. Whether as plowboy on the farm, or hard Laborer in the 
ditch, or student in the school room, or teacher in thi- common schools. 
or distinguished educator in college, or an inspired minister of the 
gospel, the lite of Dr. Ponton is worthy of emulation by the ispir- 
inc vouth of the race, and should he treasured by them as one ol 

their most precious Legacies. 

His Accomplished vnd Estimable Wife. 

In the year of 1900 Dr. Ponton was united in the holy honds of 
wedlock to Mrs |,li E. Upshaw, i^' Washington, D. C. She is a 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 123 

graduate of the schools of Washington, her native home, and she 
had the honor of teaching in the schools of the nation's capital for 

a nuinher of years. Subsequently, she was a member of the faculty 
of Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Ga., and it was while she was 
serving in that capacity that the fates guided Dr. Ponton in her 
direction and finally blessed him with her companionship as a faith- 
ful and devoted wife. Their union has been in every respect an 
ideal one, and the intellectuality of the two has given their, simi- 
larity of tastes, a common aspiration, and a mutual enjoyment. 
Mrs. Ponton is of invaluable service to her husband in his literary 
labors, and many a successful achievement along that line would have 
been impossible without her cheerful assistance and co-operation. 
She is not only a woman of splendid intellectual attainments, but 
she is a woman of varied experience, splendid judgment, extensive 
knowledge of business life and sound common sense. She is the 
confidential assistant and adviser of her husband in both his per- 
sonal and business affairs, and she is that type of woman that can 
best assist a public man in such a responsible position to get the best 
results both for his own interests and the welfare of the race. 

A Leader of the Race. 

The leadership of a race is something that can not be assumed 
by any man. for it is an attribute that results from the mental 
attitude of those whose prerogative it is to accord or withdraw it. 
Dr. Ponton has every requisite and every equipment for the ideal 
leader of the race that he is. He is one of the best prepared men 
in the galaxy of the race's greatness, and his many years of conse- 
crated effort for the advancement and uplift of the race are worthy 
of the race's greatest appreciation. He is one of the pillars of his 
branch of the Christian Church, and his clarion notes have been 
heard in a majority of the schools and churches of the South, ex- 
horting the race to take a stand against vice, corruption and iniquity, 
and to show to the world that it stands for education, morality, 
religion and everything that will help the world to move ever upward, 
onward and heavenward. 



T 



124 



/;/.'./' OX LIGHTS OF THE i:.i< E 



Rev. II. II. King, I). I).. Yazoo City, Miss. 

Presiding Elder of Yazoo City District A. M. K. Church and 
President of People's Penny Savings Bank. 

NTELLIGENT and wise Leadership is necessary for the 
development, growth and prosperity of every people, and 
most certainly is it necessary in the rise of a struggling 
race less than a half century removed from the degrading 

and blighting influences of slavery. Hut it has been the wisdom oi 
an all-wise Providence to prepare leaders for His people that they 





Rev. II. II. King 

might be trained iii habits of industry, economy, thrift md per 
verance, without which no people can truly prosper and attain to 
tlnir highest possibilities. 

It the Negro race in America lias made any considerable advance- 
ment up the hill of life during the rears of its freedom, it has been 
due to the character of its leadership. In many instances ambitious 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 125 

and selfish men have seized the reins of power and dominated to 

the injury and ruin of the race, yet it has pleased the Almighty 
Power to prepare for Leadership of the race men of Christian char- 
acter and spiritual power to lead the race in progress, prosperity 

and honor. Such leaders are a blessing to any people, and the 
struggling race, whose members wear "the shadowed livery ot the 
burning sun," need not become discouraged and despair as long as 
there can be found in the ranks of the race such courageous, aggres- 
sive and inspiring leaders as the inimitable, determined and success 
ful gospel minister and business man whose life story is narrated in 
these pages. Long live this useful servant of humanity, this active 
servant of the people, this prince of financiers, this king in com- 
mercial life. Rev. H. H. King of Ya/oo City. Miss., one of the 
beacon lights of the race and one of the most serviceable men of 
the nation. 

His Birthpi. a< i: and Parents. 

The worthy subject of this sketch. Rev. Henry Howe King, is a 
native of the State of Ohio, and was born in Cincinnati, May 3, 1853. 
He was not only born in a free State, but his parents had gained 
their freedom in an unsual manner. His father, Mr. Louis L. 
King, had been a slave in the State of Virginia, but he was con- 
veyed from Culpepper. Virginia, to Cincinnati. Ohio, by the mys- 
terious Underground Railroad when he was very young, and thus 
was rescued from a life of slavery and transformed into a free man. 
At the time of that grand meteoric shower in the decade of the 
30's, that never-to-he-forgotten time when the stars fell, the sub- 
ject's mother was liberated, along with many other slaves, by her 
master on his plantation near Natchez, Miss. This celestial phe- 
nomenon of falling stars so terrified the master, who thought that 
it was the forerunner of the world's destruction, that he liberated 
all of his slaves. 

Having thus become a free woman by the decree of her master, 
the future mother moved with her parents from the State of Mis 
sissippi to the State of Ohio, and located in Cincinnati, where the 
fates decreed that she should meet her future husband, who. like 
herself, had been providentially rescued from slavery, though in a 
far different manner. The two were in course of time married, and 
the subject of this narrative was the second son of this union. 

His Education. 

At the age of six years the subject was sent to the Walnut Hill 
public school of Cincinnati. Ohio, where he remained a pupil from 
185<) until lS(i.".. His education was mainlv of a rudimentary char- 



126 BEACON LIGHTS OF TEE RACE 

acter. for it was not his privilege to complete any standard course 
of study. So far as actual attendance at school is concerned, the 
majority of people of the present day have enjoyed far better 
educational advantages than he, but few indeed are the men that 
are worthy even to be compared with him in the domain of success- 
ful achievement. His career has been one of the most astonishing 
in the annals of the race, and many a college graduate would con- 
sider it the acme of success to have accomplished in life the half of 
what the subject has already accomplished. 

The six years of training that he received in the public schools 
of Cincinnati. Ohio, simply laid the foundation for his marvelous 
subsequent career. Of course, Rev. King is now a man of matured 
intellect, for he has taken advantage of the passing years, with their 
thousands of opportunities for intellectual culture and has thor- 
oughly prepared himself for the exigencies of life. By diligent 
self-application to study and burning midnight oil, he has become 
one of the intellectual giants of the race, and he has been signally 
honored by the great denomination in which he has labored so 
earnestly and so effectively for one-third of a century. As an 
humble testimonial of its appreciation for his worth and service to 
the race Shorter College conferred upon him the honored degree of 
Doctor of Divinity in the year of 1900. 

Back to Their Native Southland. 

At the close of the Civil War, the parents of the subject moved 
back to the South, the land of the race's greatest possibilities, and 
located at Helena, Arkansas, with their children. At the age of 
fifteen years the manly and independent spirit of the subject 
inspired him with the determination to make his own headway in 
life; with this object in view he shook the dust of his Arkansas 
home from his feet and turned his adventurous footsteps to the great 
West, via St. Louis, Mo., and traveled as far as the Rocky Moun- 
tains. Finally his taste for exciting adventure having been appeased, 
he returned to the State of Arkansas, where he assumed the respon- 
sible duties of schoolmaster. 

A S( HOOLMA8TER IX Ahkansas. 

The immortal President of the United States of America. Hon. 
John Quincy Adams, exhorted every man to keep school tor a while. 
provided the man possessed the required ability, tor he thought that 
no other experience gives a man a clearer insight into human char- 
acter and better prepares him tor the battles of life. The reverend 
subject 1 1 1 - 1 \ have realized the timeliness of this injunction and re- 
solved to put it to test, for he followed the lite of a schoolmaster in 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 127 

Arkansas from 1878 until 1884. He was a pioneer school teacher 
in two townships where the hostility to a Negro school teacher was 
so great that the subject had to go to the school house armed with i 
shotgun to keep from being molested. Verily is the life of a pioneer 
beset with hardships and perils in whatever sphere of activity he 
may be engaged. But the law of compensation is ever in evidence, 
for the experience that the subject gained in the teachers' profession 
was the foundation training for his mastery of human character and 
the achievement of his present great success. 

His Career as a Minister of the Gospel. 

It was while the subject was teaching school in the State of 
Arkansas that he began his systematic preparation for the ministry. 
His career in the school room was merely a stepping stone to that 
calling which is the real and serious work of his life, the ministry 
of the gospel. He began his career in the ministry in the year of 

1879, and was ordained in the traveling connection in the year of 

1880. For nearly one-third of a century he has been an aggressive, 
militant force in the cause of the Master, and has done incalculable 
good in the moral, intellectual and siritual uplift of his race. He 
served the Plummersville Mission, 1880-1; Jonesboro Mission, 1882- 
3; Pinckney Circuit, 1884-5; Augusta Station. 1886-7; Forrest 
Citv Station, 1888-9. In the year of 1890 he was appointed Pre- 
siding Elder of Monticello District. From 1895 to 1899 he was 
stationed as pastor in Pine Bluff, Ark. He was also Presiding Elder 
of the Clarendon, Magnolia and Camden District in Arkansas. 
While serving in that State he built seventeen churches, remodeled 
three churches, built three parsonages and received over 3,500 mem- 
bers into the church. In the year of 1902 he was transferred from 
the Arkansas Conference to the Mississippi Conference, where he 
is still laboring and where he is doing a grand work for the uplift 
of his people. 



Honors From His Church. 

The subject has been signally honored by his denomination. For 
seventeen years he has served as Secretary of Annual Conferences, 
and he is now filling the honored position of Secretary of the East 
Mississippi Conference. He has been elected as del. gate to three 
General Conferences, and has served as a Presiding Elder in the A. 
M. E. Church for over fourteen years, being now Presiding Elder ot 
the Yazoo City District. 



(i OX LIGH1 - OF THE /.'.J- /. 
The Prince of Business Men. 

(a) 

Presideni of People's Penny Savings Bank. 
The subject of this sketch, as has already been stated; was trans- 
ferred to the Mississippi Conference in 1902, and stationed as 

pastor in Yazoo City. Miss. Arriving in that city at a time when 
there Mas much discussion of the proposition to organize a hank, he 
< ntered heartily into the spirit of the undertaking. Alter many 
months of discussion, deliberation and labor, the great financial 

enterjiri.se became a tangible reality. In the month of June. l!)o.">. 
one hundred persons paid 25 cents each as the foundation fund for 
raising the neci ssary fund with which to begin operations. Later 
on this same invincible number paid 75 cents each, making the first 
installment of $500 worth of stock, and pledged themselves to con- 
tribute $1.00 per month for five months until the stock was paid for. 
The remarkable financial ability of the subject is shown to advan- 
tage when lie succeeded in raising, single-handed and alone. $7,000 
worth of stock at $5.00 per share in the short period of five months. 
In due course of time the charter was secured and signed by Gov. 
\ irdaman. and the ambition of those who had struggled so long was 
it last realized. 

January 1. 1 <)<)(>. was a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing for the 
promoti rs of the new hank, for on that memorable day the loors 
of that institution were thrown open for public patronage. Th< 
hank was a phenomenal success from the very first day. The urgent 
Deeds of such an institution were so imperative that by the 14th of 
February, 1906, the bank had loaned out $5,000. There has been 
no diminution in the patronage of the people, for each yea:- has 
witnessed a gratifying increase in the character and volume of its 
I iisin. ss. The first year of its existence the hank handled $56,000; 
the second year. $95,658; the third year. $106,078. Each year has 
witnessed a substantia] increase over the preceding year. Since the 
beginning of the hank's existence it has handled over three-quarters 
of a million dollars, and has paid tour dividends, amounting to <>.". 
cents on tlt< dollar. The successful management of the bank's 

affairs has fallen mainly upon the willing shoulders ,.1 1 1 u subject, 

for he served tor years as the hank's Cashier and President, and he 
is still performing his duties as President. The hank i- capitalized 
at $80,000, and is considered one of the strongest banks () f the race 
in the Southland. Notwithstanding its youth at the time of the 
disastrous financial panic, it paid its obligations dollar for dollar. 
and ran the gauntlet of the financial storm without shifting a single 
-ail ot distress. It i- well organized, makes monev for its stock- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 129 

holders, and commands the patronage of the best and most substan- 
tial people of the race. 

(b) 

Chairman of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the 
Laborers' Grocery Company. 

The energies of the subject are not restricted to the management 
of the worthy financial institution of which he is President, but they 
are in evidence in every important business enterprise that has for 
its object the success and welfare of the race. He is Chairman 
of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Laborers' Grocery 
Company, a mercantile enterprise that is capitalized at $10,000, and 
destined* to be one of the most creditable and one of the most suc- 
cessful business enterprises of the race in the State of Mississippi. 

00 

Manager of Fretonia Realty, Mercantile and Manufacturing 

Company. 

The able subject of this sketch is the inspiring genius behind 
the successful operations of the Fretonia Realty, Mercantile and 
Manufacturing Company, a corporation that is capitalized at $30,- 
000. The name of the company is suggestive of the character of its 
business. This corporation owns a subdivision of eighty acres of 
land, known as West Yazoo City Subdivision, and situated just 
across the Yazoo River. The subdivision is platted and laid off into 
town lots, with regular avenues and streets. In this subdivision 
there are in all 365 town lots, four-fifths of which will average 60 
feet by 150 feet. Thus it may be seen that the lots in this subdi- 
vision are much larger than lots in subdivisions of this character 
in other cities, and that the promoters of this company had an eye 
single to the future growth and beauty of this site as a home for 
the thrifty and progressive element of the race. The price per lot 
varies from $100 to $300, according to size and location, and is thus 
in reach of all classes and conditions of people. The total valuation 
of the land in this subdivision is conservatively estimated at $40,- 
000. From present indications, there seems no doubt that in the 
course of a few years this subdivision will develop into one of the 
most desirable and one of the most beautiful sections of the city. 

(d) 

The King Undertaking Company. 

Not only has the worthy subject of this sketch a firm and abiding 
interest in the living, but he is also gravely interested in the dead. 



[30 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

for he is the sole owner ami manager of the King Undertaking 
Company of Yazoo City. Miss., one of the progressive race enter- 
prises of that city. This undertaking company, just as are all other 
business enterprises under his corruscating genius and able manage- 
ment, is prosperous and a credit to the energies of the race. Its 
equipment .and service are worthy of the extensive patronage that 
it receives, and it will continue in the future, as it lias in the past, 
to merit the patronage of those in need of its services. 

(e) 
A Stockholder and Director in Many Companies. 

The subject is one of the most successful and one of the most 
aggressive business men of the race, and a practical demonstration 
of the truth of this statement is shown in the great number of 
business enterprises with which he is connected, either as stock- 
holder or director. He is a member of the directorate of the fol- 
lowing business enterprises., viz.: The Mound Bayou Oil Mill & 
Manufacturing Company, the Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance 
Company, the Laborers' Grocery Company, and the People's Penny 
Savings Bank. He owns 100 shares of stock in a Nevada gold mine, 
20 shares of stock in an insurance company at Rome. (la., and 100 
shares of stock in the Beaumont Oil Well Company. He is one of 
the most far-sighted and one of the most successful financiers of 
the race, and is not afraid to venture his money and encouragement 
in any worthy enterprise of the race. 

Prominent in Fraternity Circles. 

The affiliation of the subject with nearly all of the fraternal 
organizations of the race in the State is an evidence of the fact that 
he is a good mixer and believes in that power and strength which 
come as the result of mutual co-operation and union. He is a 
thirty-third degree Mason, a Knight of Tabor, a Knight of Pythias, 
a member of the G. I'. O. of O. 1'.. and Custodian of the B. grade, 
W. (). u. 

[lis Faithful, Devoted \ni> Cultured Wipe. 

In the year of 1908 tin reverend subject of this sketch proved 
himself to be a king by winning the hand and heart of Mrs. bill 1 
C. Carver Roby, a lady of high intellectual attainments and emi- 
nently worthy of the ambitious attentions of any man. She is a 
graduate of the Convent of the Holy family, and tor several years 
sin' was a prol'essioni] school mistress in the States of Louisiana. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 131 

Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma. In her domestic circle she 
reigns both as queen and "King," and there is no one to dispute her 
authority. She is a most worthy woman, and her devoted husband 
takes pleasure in acknowledging it to the world. 

A Cultured Family. 

Not only are Rev. King and wife wealthy in the goods of this 
world, but they are rich beyond the dreams of avarice in the number 
and intelligence of their children, there being eight children, equally 
divided as to sex, to rear, educate and comfort. Mr. Wellington 
Roby is a graduate of Western University, and is a member of the 
Ninth Cavalry Band of the United States Army. Two of his sons, 
Masters Abner and Howe King, are students of Campbell College, 
Jackson, Miss., one of the best colleges of the A. M. E. Church. 
One son, Master John Roby, is a pupil in the public schools of 
Yazoo City. The two boys attending Campbell College are mem- 
bers of the college band, while the eldest son at home plays the 
violin in the choir of Bethel A. M. E. Church. One of the daughters, 
Miss Mary Roby, is attending the Convent of the Holy Family, 
New Orleans, La., and two of the daughters, Misses Electa and 
Marion King, are students at Morehead Academy. Three of the 
girls are musical, two of whom perform on the piano and the third 
on the violincello. Thus it is apparent to all what splendid prep- 
aration the subject has made for the education of his children, for 
in this particular he stands second to none. 

The Doctor as a Race Leader. 

Dr. King is Past Master of the Ancient and Honorable Order of 
Doers. He believes in doing things, and in this department of 
human excellence he has hardly an equal in the ranks of the race. 
He is, first of all, a minister of the gospel, and for over a third of 
a century he has consecrated his life to the gospel ministry. For 
many years he has been one of the ablest leaders in his branch of 
the Christian Church, and his record of service stands out as a 
beacon light, blazing forth the path of duty for all men. In addition 
to being one of the leading ministers of his denomination, he is also 
one of the most aggressive and one of the most successful business 
men in the ranks of the race. He is a veritable human motor of 
energy and progress. He is a man of versatile accomplishments, and 
can superintend a multitude of business enterprises without slipping 
a single mental cog. His extraordinary business capacity may be 
calculated by the multitude of business enterprises with which he is 
connected, either as stockholder or director. He is identified with 



132 BEA( ".V LI'; li I - OF THE i:.i< I. 

nearly every important business enterprise of the race in the State 
of Mississippi, not to enumerate those worthy enterprises that are 
outside of the State. His matchless ability as a business man and 
financier has been demonstrated in countless instances, and he is 
considered a welcome addition to the directorate of any enterprise 
of the race that needs intelligent leadership and business brains. 
Dr. King is an eminently successful man from whatever standpoint 
he may be viewed. He has made good in every capacity, and both 
church and State are proud to do him honor. He has confidence 
in the possibilities of the race, great capacity for work, optimism 
and unswerving devotion to the interests of the race. He has dedi- 
cated to the race the best energies of his life, and he is still in the 
raqe of life to the end. Long live the king, the able, worthy and 
successful leader of his race. Dr. H. H. King, of Yazoo City, Miss. 





BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 133 



S. D. Redmond, A.M., M.B., Jackson, Miss. 

NE of the most striking and one of the most sensational 
examples of professional and financial success in the 
great State of Mississippi, or in the whole of the United 
i^ States, for that matter, is in the case of Dr. Sidney Dil- 
lon Redmond, of the capital city of the State of Mississippi. It 
is true that in fortunate mining investments and in lucky speculative 
ventures fabulous fortunes have been the reward of the efforts of a 
few years or a few months; but in the ordinary channels of legiti- 
mate* business and professional skill there are indeed few men in 
the State or nation, regardless of race, that have as much in a 
material way to show for their labors as has the successful physician 
and sterling business man whose name not only graces this sketch, 
but is a source of inspiration to thousands of the race, who are 
ambitious to give a better account of themselves in the material 
walks of life. 

His Birthplace and Parents. 

The genial and wealthy doctor is a native of Ebenezer, Holmes 
County, Miss., and was ushered into existence October 12, 1871. 
His parents were in the poorest circumstances, and were unable to 
educate their children. His father having died when his son Sidney 
was twelve years old, his dear mother moved from the old home 
place at Ebenezer to Holly Springs, Miss., for the purpose of pro- 
viding for her children the advantages of education. The mother of 
the doctor is a most remarkable woman, and she proved equal to 
the emergency that was caused by the death of her husband, and she 
exhibited most remarkable ability in pointing out the way for the 
education of her children. The children were all reared by their 
mother, Mrs. Esther Redmond, and their respectable and honorable 
lives form today bright stars in her earthly crown. 

His Education. 

Passing over the rudimentary training that the doctor received 
in the common schools of his native county, the main part ot his 
education was received at Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss., 
from which institution of learning he received his degree of Bache- 
lor of Arts in the year of 189t and his degree of Master of Arts 
in the year of 1901. He has a wide reputation as a scholar, and is 
generally considered to be one of the most erudite men that has 
ever received a diploma from the collegiate department of Rust 
Universitv. 



134 



BEACO.\ LIGHTS OF TEE RACE 




DR. S. D. Kl DMOND 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 135 

His Career as a Schoolmaster. 

As an evidence of the esteem in which his scholarship was held 
by the powers of Rnst University, he was called to fill the chair of 
mathematics in that institution, and served in that capacity for one 
year after his graduation. At the expiration of that time he was 
promoted to the principalship of Meridian Academy, Meridian, 
Miss., which school is one of the principal preparatory centers for 
Rust University. It was not his intention to follow the profession 
of teaching, for he had an ambition along a different line. So his 
career as a schoolmaster came to a close with his resignation from 
the principalship of Meridian Academy, and he was prepared to 
enter upon the investigation and study of that profession which was 
destined to bring him professional success and great financial gain. 

Off to Illinois Medical College. 

The ambition of the subject of this sketch was to become one 
of the great physicians of the country. He was splendidly edu- 
cated and had a first-class foundation upon which to build a medi- 
cal education. Having carefully looked over the situation, he 
selected Illinois Medical College as the institution in which to 
prosecute his medical studies. He matriculated as a student in 
Illinois Medical College in the year of 1894, but while there the 
speculative trend of the mind of the doctor in embryo caused him 
to venture into an unsuccessful business deal about the end of his 
second year in college, which caused him to lose every cent of the 
one thousand dollars which he had saved while teaching for the 
purpose of completing his education ; but undaunted by his mis- 
fortune, he borrowed a little money from a friend and betook him- 
self to the Lone Star State, in which, after walking a considerable 
distance, he found himself a country schoolmaster, bravely strug- 
gling to retrieve his lost fortune in order that he might be enabled 
to re-enter college and complete his medical education. His efforts 
were crowned with success, and he graduated with honor from that 
institution September 2, 1897. 

Back to Mississippi to Practice Medicine. 

After his graduation in 1897, he decided to return to his native 
State to practice his profession. Carrying this resolution into 
effect, he arrived in the city of Jackson. Miss.. November 15, 1897- 
It is stated that the doctor rode on the ears into the city of Jackson, 
but it is not known just how much of the distance between Chicago, 
111., and Jackson, Miss., he negotiated witli his pedal extremities. 
Certain is it that the future great financier of the raee made his 



1 56 BEACOX UGH I - OF THE /'./■ E 

advent into the city of Jackson without any encumbrance in the 

shape of money and with no burden except a faded gripsack and a 
choice assortment of ancient debts. The wealth of the doctor was 
in his masterful intellect and not in his pocket when he made bis 
professional debut in the city of Jackson. 

High Honors Before the Board of Medical Examiners. 

He passed with flying colors the rigid examination of the medical 
board of examiners of the State of Mississippi, and it is said that 
the Board of Examiners gave him the honor of having passed the 
best examination of the two hundred and fifty (250) applicants 
that were present at that time, and one of the best in the history of 
the State, irrespective of race. 

Post Graduate Course in Harvard Medical College. 

After practicing his profession in the city of his choice tor a sea- 
son, he went to Boston, Mass., and pursued a post graduate course 
in medicine at Harvard Medical College. He is one of the best 
prepared physicians in the medical profession, and his opinions have 
the weight of authority among his fellow practitioners. He is a 
specialist in surgery, and lias relieved patients from many different 
sections of the country. He has always had a great practice in the 
city of Jackson and its environs, and his phenomenal success has 
been the medium through which he has become probably the wealthi- 
est colored man in the State of Mississippi. 

His Business Investments. 

That the doctor is a capital business man is evident from the 
various business enterprises with which he is connected. He was 
one of the organizers of the American Savings Bank & Trust Com- 
pany of Jackson, Miss., and for five years he filled the respon- 
sible position of President of that institution, or until ]})()}). when 
the stress of professional business compelled his resignation. He 
is not only a prominent Stockholder in the bank of which he was 
formerly President, but he is a stockholder of the Union Savings 
Bank of Jackson, and also a stockholder of the Merchants Bank 
& Trust Company of the same city. He also owns stock in the 
Capital Light & Power Company and the Citizens Savings Bank & 
Trust Company of Jackson. 

The Owneb of Over One Hundred Houses. 

It is believed by many people who are in position to know, that 
Or. Sidney Dillon Redmond i-* the owner of more city property than 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 137 

any other colored man in the State of Mississippi. However doubt- 
ful this statement may be, the writer is certain of the fact that tin- 
doctor is the owner of more than one hundred houses in the city of 
Jackson, among which are some of the most substantial and most 
pretentious buildings in the city. He owns business blocks in the 
center of the city's business section. In addition to several two- 
story frame business houses, he owns a two-story brick office build- 
ing of the most modern construction, and with every modern con- 
venience, several one-story brick stores, a three-story brick building, 
and one four-story brick building, "The Roof Temple Theater," one 
of the handsomest structures in Jackson, Miss. Of course, it is 
largely a matter of speculation as to any man's wealth, but it is a 
safe and sane proposition to estimate the wealth of the doctor to 
be way up in six figures. He is one of the financial marvels of the 
times, and bids fair in course of time to be the richest colored man 
in America. 

The Owner of Two Drug Stores. 

The doctor is the owner of two of the largest drug stores in the 
city of Jackson. One of them is located on the principal street of 
the city, and the doctor is the only colored man that either owns 
property or does business on Main street in the city of Jackson. 

Political Honors. 

The doctor has been active in the exercise of his political rights, 
and has done much for the cause of Republican success. He has 
served as Chairman of the Republican County Executive Committee 
and he is now Chairman of the Republican State Committee. He 
has been a delegate to every National Republican Convention since 
the year of 1896, inclusive. 

His Estimable and Accomplished Wife. 

In the year of 1 89 1 the doctor was fortunate enough to win the 
heart and hand of one of the truest and one of the best women in 
the State of Mississippi. She was a Miss Ida Alcorn Revels, of 
Holly Springs, Miss., the talented daughter of ex-United States 
Senator H. S. Revels of the State of Mississippi. Mrs. Redmond 
is a graduate of the academic department of Rust University, and 
taught for a year as assistant to her husband when he was at the 
head of Meridian Academy. She is an excellent pianist and a tal- 
ented woman on general principles. She is an ideal wife, and her 
encouragement and wise counsel have been invaluable to the doctor 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

in making his successful career a possibility. Two children have 
been born to the doctor and his estimable wife. Miss Esther, to be 
the belle of the family, and Master Sidney Dillon Redmond, to 
carry on to honor and renown the family name. 

Not Borx With a Silveb Spoon. 

To the everlasting credit of Ur. S. D. Redmond, it may be stated 
that not only did he work his own way through school, but that du? 
ing his vacations he worked and earned enough money with which 
to support and educate the entire family. He has truly been the 
architect of his own fortune, and in this respect his life should be 
an inspiration to the whole race. The doctor is undoubtedly a great 
man. for he has already accomplished great things. 





BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE L39 



Hon. J. E. Bush, Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Receiver of the United States Land Office at Little Rock, 

Arkansas, Also National Grand Scribe of the 

Mosaic Templars of America and Founder. 

1HE name of the honored subject of this sketch is a 
synonym for everything that is progressive and uplift- 
ing to the Xegro race, not only in the State of Arkansas, 
but wherever the race is found in this country. So 
thoroughly is his name identified with the development, growth 
and progress of the race in the State of Arkansas, and so 
completely has it stimulated and dominated the progressive spirit 
of the race that it is only with the greatest of difficulty that the 
minds of the people of his State can be readjusted to the fact that 
Mr. Bush is not a native of the State of Arkansas, whose citizens 
have conferred upon him so much of merited honor and lasting fame. 
He is a native of the grand old Volunteer State of Tennessee, and 
first saw the light of day at Moscow in the western section of Ten- 
nessee in the year of 1858. In the year of 1862 his parents emi- 
grated to the State of Arkansas and carried with them their infant 
son to grow up to man's estate in the virgin region of the setting 
sun. Stirring days were they in the early youth of the subject of 
this sketch, for the ravages of the fratricidal war of four years had 
desolated and impoverished the South, and not even the white youth 
of the South had any other legacy than hard work or misery and 
starvation. Such a condition was calculated to develop the moral 
strength in any person, and it was in this severe and rigid school of 
experience that Mr. Bush received his first training. 

His Education. 

As his parents had emigrated to the State of Arkansas when he 
was a child, the main part of his education was gained in the schools 
of his adopted State. He attended and graduated from the public 
schools of Little Rock. While a student at school he showed that 
same spirit of independence and self-reliance that has characterized 
him all through life. He made his own way through school by hard 
and unremitting labor. With him work has ever been one of the set 
principles of his life, and the severe discipline of his early life has 
been invaluable to him in his subsequent struggles to reach the goal 
of success. The education that is handed on a silver platter to a 
boy is the one that ordinarily will do him the least good, but if he 



i : 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE BAi E 




ll<>\ |. 1 . HI SH 



BEACON LIGHTS (>F THE JLICH 141 

must struggle to gain his education, the effort will develop not only 
his mental powers, hut his moral powers as well. Therefore, it 
was to he expected that Mr. Bush would make the hest possible use 
of his educational advantages. His naturally bright mind needed 
only to be led in the proper channel for him to render a good account 
of himself. He has a two-fold education, one resulting from many 
years of contact with books and the other resulting from contact 
with the experiences of the world. Each one supplements the other, 
and a man must have the benefit of both in order to be considered 
a well-rounded, cultivated man. His mind has a depth of power and 
culture that the mere routine of books and scholastic training can not 
give, for after all, the greatest school in the world is the school of 
experience, and the greatest university is the broad, busy and strenu- 
ous outside world. 

His Career as a Schoolmaster in Arkansas. 

After he had graduated from the public schools of Little Rock, 
Arkansas, he at once began that splendid career of service and use- 
fulness to his race to which his friends point with such great pride. 
He took up the responsibilities of a schoolmaster. He saw the 
necessity of education for the masses of the race, and he resolved 
to do what he could in the effort for the uplift of his benighted 
people. His actual experience in the school room was not of great 
duration, but whether in or out of the school room, he has ever been 
a consistent friend of the cause of popular education. As a promi- 
nent business man outside of the school room he has been in position 
to do even more for the public school system of his State than he 
ever could have done in a teaching capacity. He was for two years 
principal of the Capital Hill City School of Little Rock, Arkansas, 
after which time he served in a similar capacity in the public schools 
of Hot Springs. Ark. While the writer can only speculate as to the 
character of the work of Mr. Bush in the school room, yet there can 
be no reasonable doubt that in the school room he gave an exhibition 
of that ability which has characterized his subsequent career in 
everything that he has attempted. He has a genius for administra- 
tion, and this peculiar ability would have made him one of the orna- 
ments of the teachers' profession if he had elected to continue in 
pedagogical harness. 

His Political Career. 

The political experience of Mr. Bush began shortly after he had 
reached his majority. He took as naturally to politics as the soaring 
eagle to his eyrie on the mountain top. In the year of 1884 he 



142 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE BAi E 

received his tir^t political honor of consequence. He was nominated 
by the Greenback party for the office of County Clerk of Pulaski 
County. The nomination was tendered to him because of his known 
popularity, rather than because of his political persuasion. There 
is method even in the madness of politicians, and in order to win they 
will often enlist under their standards and nominate for positions 
of trust men that are not particularly identified with the party. 
In those days the so-called Greenback party had made considerable 
headway against the two dominant parties, just as the Populistic 
party subsequently did; but the love and loyalty of Mr. Bush for 
the grand old Republican party would not permit him to remain 
the standard bearer of the party which had honored him with its 
nomination. So he respectfully resigned the nomination in the 
interest of the Republican candidate, who was elected by an over- 
whelming majority. His fidelity to the principles and interests of 
the Republican party has been tested in every possible manner. He 
has fought many battles for the triumph of Republican principles 
and the success of the Republican party. His loyalty to the party 
and his great ability have been highly recognized by the leaders of 
the party for a generation, and there is not a man in the State of 
Arkansas, be he white or black, that enjoys greater political pres- 
tige with the powers that be than he does. The recent years have 
witnessed some very startling changes in the attitude of the white 
Republicans toward their heretofore political brothers in black. In 
obedience to the desire to eliminate the Negro from political influence 
in the Southland, the white element of the party in the South seem 
committed to the policy of wresting by any sort of machination the 
power that has heretofore been the just inheritance of the more 
populous and dominant Negro element of the party. The white 
Republicans have in most of the Southern States cut loose from all 
previous understandings and alliances with their political brothers 
in black, and have taken control of the machinery and management 
of the Republican party. In the State of Arkansas the same senti- 
ment exists as to the elimination of the Negro vote from the domi- 
nation of the Republican party, and most of the old stalwart leaders 
and war horses of the party have been thrown overboard and eon 
signed to the political I ). ad Sea. never to rise to influence and 
power again. But in the State of Arkansas there is one conspicuous 
exception, and that is in the case of Hon. .1. K. Hush, the real leader 
of the Republican party in the State of Arkansas. He is not only 
the recognized head of the Republican party in the State o( Arkan- 
sas, hut he is powerful in national polities as well. He has labored 
indefatigably tor the welfare of the party, and has been loyal to 
ils interests in the darkest hours of defeat. His voice in clarion 
tones has ever s, Minded the notes of fidelity to the party, and he is 



B EA CON LIGH TS OF THE /.'./' E i 1 5 

well entitled to every honor that has ever been conferred upon 
himself. Of the many able and faithful colored men that used to be 
most prominent in the councils of the party. Mr. Bush seems to he 
the only one whose status has not changed. He is the only colored 
man that is recognized as a political peer by the dominant white 
Republicans of the State. Administrations may come and admin- 
istrations may go, but, like Tennyson's brook, the political career 
of Mr. Bush goes on forever. 

His Official Career. 

In the year of 1875 Mr. Bush was honored with appointment to 
a position as postal clerk in the Railway Mail Service of the St ite 
of Arkansas. In the performance of the duties incident to his new 
position he exhibited those sterling qualities of capability, energy 
and fidelity to duty which always count heavily in a man's favor, 
irrespective as to his service in either a public or private capacity. 
In the postal service he ranked second to none in efficiency, and 
to such an extent was his efficiency recognized that he was recom- 
mended by the Republican State Central Committee for the chief 
clerkship of the division. An endorsement of that character was a 
high tribute to his status, not only as a postal clerk, but as a worthy 
man and citizen. In the history of the postal service in the State 
he was the only colored man that was ever officially recommended 
for such an exalted position. Mr. Bush has always endeavored to 
prepare himself for efficient service in whatever field of activity 
he has entered, and because of the fact that he has always measured 
up to every required standard, he has had the manliness to demand 
recognition and contend for his rights as a citizen. He has never 
slept on his rights, political or civil. He was not appointed to the 
chief clerkship for which he was recommended, but the probability 
of his ultimate success in gaining the coveted honor had much to 
do with the abolition of the office from the postal service. 

In the year of 1898 he was appointed by President MeKinley to 
the exalted position of Receiver of the United States Land Office 
at Little Rock, Arkansas. In many respects this appointment was 
one of the highest political honors that had ever been conferred 
upon a colored citizen of the State. He is now serving his fourth 
presidential term as Receiver of the United States Land Office, 
which is the record in the State of Arkansas for length of service 
in a Federal office of such great prominence and dignity. As 
Receiver of the Land Office he has one of the most important posi- 
tions in the gift of the government, and the emoluments of the office 
are commensurate with his responsibilities. In his official capacity 
he exercises both executive and judicial discretion. As a rule, he is 



144 BEAi ".V LIGH1 - OF Tin: /'./' E 

the final adjudicator in all matters pertaining to the public lands 
in his district. That be has faithfully and ably discharged the 

duties of his office is evident from tin- extraordinary length of time 
that he has served. 

It may he asked; why was Mr. Hush appointed to such an exalted 
office by the President of the United States? The reason why is 
n adily obvious to those who are conversant with the political history 
of the State of Arkansas since the decade of the 80's. Mr. Bush 
lias enjoyed the distinction of being one of the leaders of tin 
Republican party of the State of Arkansas since the days of his 
early manhood, and the high office which he so creditably and so 
ably fills is but a fitting reward for his valiant and faithful services 
for the party. While the salary of his office is lucrative, yet for a 
man of his gnat wealth the salary consideration can not be the sole 
incentive for his long continuation in public office, for with his 
entire time devoted to his enormous properties and other vast inter- 
ests he can easily quadruple his earnings in the course of a year. 
This being the case, he is really holding his high office at a gnat 
financial sacrifice. If he had followed his own personal inclinations 
he would have resigned the duties of his office long ere this time; 
but in our relations with our fellow men it is not our own inclina- 
tions and interests that are always to be considered. Political 
expediency is to be considered, also racial considerations should not 
be overlooked. According to the signs of the times, the days of the 
colored man as a prominent political factor in the councils of either 
of the two old parties in the South are numbered. The writer has 
not the gift of political prophecy, but all present indications point 
to the wholesale elimination of qualified colored men from positions 
of prominence in public service in the South. The expressed policy 
of the present Chief Magistrate of the nation is to restrict the 
appointment of colored officials to sections of the country where the 
citizens that would be most concerned are not so hostile to their 
appointment. It is most probable that consideration for the future 
political welfare of the race has influenced Mr. Hush to continue 
indefinitely in office to ton stall as long as possible the inevitable 
loss that the race will sustain when his official mantle will have 
fallen oil' his shoulders^ for there is no other colored man in the 
State that can hope to be his successor in these critical political 
days of the race. Too great credit can not he given to the thorough 
race man who has been willing to sacrifice his own financial interests 
tor the political welfare of his race. 

The Foi \m r of the Mosaic Templars of Amerii \. 

That Mr. Hush has an original mind and great administrative 
ability is evident not only in his capacity as a public official in the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 145 

service of the United States government, but in his capacity as the 
founder of one of the greatest fraternal organizations of the race. 
On the 22d of June. [882, Mr. J. E. Hush, in connection with Mr. 
C. W. Kcatts, founded and organized the National Order of the 
Mosaic Templars of America. Now. the mere founding of a fra- 
ternal organization is not in itself a matter difficult of achievement, 
hut to organize a fraternity of the class and character of the Mosaic 
Templars of America and build it up to the present colossal prw- 
portions of the order requires hrains. foresight, ceaseless energy, 
marvelous executive ability and all of the fundamental qualities that 
command success. If these two gentlemen had done nothing else in 
life but found the organization that is now known and honored 
throughout the land, they would still have succeeded in erecting a 
monument that would have made their names immortal. At the 
time when the National Order of the Mosaic Templars of America 
was organized fraternities among the race were generally in their 
infancy, with the exception of the Masons, Odd Fellows and a few 
others. Therefore, the founders of this organization were pioneers, 
and had to blaze their way through opposition, ignorance, prejudice, 
suspicion and superstition in order to lay the fraternity on an endur- 
ing foundation. 

The General Objects of the Order. 

The general objects of the order may be classified as follows: 

1. To unite fraternally all persons of Negro descent of good 
moral character, of every profession, husiness and occupation. 

2. To give all possible moral and material aid to members of 
Mosaic Templars by holding instructive and scientific lectures, by 
encouraging each other in husiness, and assisting each other to 
obtain employment, but not to interfere with the political or religious 
opinions of any of its members. 

3. To establish and maintain a benefit fund, from which any 
sum, not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500), and not less than 
fifty dollars ($50) shall be paid to the member, or to his family, or 
to any one whom he or she may direct. 

\. The general power of said corporation shall be to sue and be 
sued by the corporate name; to have and use a common seal, which 
it may change at pleasure, or if it has no seal, the signature of the 
name of the corporation by any duly authorized officer will be legal 
and binding; to purchase and hold, or receive by gift, bequest or 
devise, in addition to the personal property owned by the corpora- 
tion, real estate necessary for the transaction of the corporate busi- 
ness; and also to purchase and accept any real estate in part pay- 



14*, BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

ment of any debt due the corporation, or to sell the same; to estab- 
lish by-laws, and to make all rules and regulations not inconsistent 
with the laws of the land, deemed expedient lor the management of 
corporate affairs; to charter subordinate temples and chambers; to 
make its own constitution, laws, discipline and general laws for the 
government of the entire order in America; to fix the compensation 
of its officers and to do whatever may be necessary for the govern- 
ment of the Grand and Subordinate Temples, not in conflict with 
tin Laws of the United States, or any laws of the States of the United 
States, and not in conflict with the object and powers of this charter. 

Growth and Extent of the Order. 

From a mere handful of men as a nucleus in the year of 1882, 
when the organization was first founded, it has. by the persistent 
dissemination of its principles and its faithful adherence to the same, 
made a numerical progress that is truly astounding. from an 
unborn and unknown organization in the year of 1 S 8 -2 . it has 
become one of the commanding Negro fraternities, not only of the 
United States, but of the present century. From its original found- 
ers and incorporators in the year of 1882. it has grown to the 
stupendous number of sixty-five thousand (65,000) members. Orig- 
inally beginning in one State of the Federal Union, it has branched 
out in its operations and beneficence until it is now firmly entrenched 
in popular favor in eighteen (18) different States. 

For the whole period of its organization it has added to its mem- 
bership an average of nearly two thousand five hundred (2,500) 
souls annually. This growth is nearly unprecedented in the history 
of organizations of its character, and is one of the best evidences 
of its worth and progressiveness. 

Tm: Endowment Policies ok the Order. 

In the organization that is known as the National Order of the 
Mosaic Templars of America, there are two kinds of endowment 
policies in force. One is known as the General Policy, which is 
carried by all members of the order, and provides for the beneficiary 
a sum not more than three hundred dollars ($300) at the death of a 
member. The other is a Special Policy, that is issued at the pleasure 
of the organization, and entitles tin- beneficiary to a sum not exceed- 
ing five hundred dollars ($500). The two policies that are issued 
l>\ this organization are as liberal in their beneficence as the gen- 
erality of fraternal organizations issue to its members. The tact 
is. very few of the other orders actually pay as much as this order. 
The sum of three hundred dollars $300) or five hundred dollars 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE I 17 

($500) is a consideration that will make a poor person in the time 
of bereavement rieh beyond the dream of avarice. 

The Surplus of the Order. 

Not only h-is the order promptly paid all of its obligations within 
the constitutional limit of time, but it has accumulated for the order 
a surplus of sixteen thousand dollars ($16,000). Since the order 
began its operations it has paid out to the beneficiaries of its policy- 
holders the stupendous sum of over a quarter of a million dollars. 
Notwithstanding this enormous outlay to the representatives of the 
policyholders and the present gigantic surplus on hand, the order 
has the proud distinction of not owing a cent to any one. This 
is one of the most creditable records in the history of fraternal 
organizations. In providing a surplus of sixteen thousand dollars 
($16,000) the order is simply pursuing the same business-like prin- 
ciples for which it has always been noted, and which all first-class 
corporations, whether business or fraternal, strive to accumulate 
for emergencies in adverse times. "Business is business." This 
guiding principle has been the watchword of the order since its 
inception, and lias brought it to its present proud position among the 
reputable fraternities of the land. 

Tin: National Grand Scribe of the Mosaic Templars of 

America. 

The worthy subject of this sketch is National Grand Scribe of 
the order of which he is one of the founders. His duties as laid 
down in the constitution are very responsible, and really make him 
the fifth wheel of the order. Among some of his numerous duties 
he is required to keep a correct report of the proceedings of the 
Grand Temple and the National Committee of Management; to 
read all reports, communications, petitions, etc.. and attest all orders 
drawn on the National Grand Treasurer; to affix the seal to all 
documents when necessary; to prepare the annual and other reports 
for publication; to draw^ an order on the National Grand Treasurer 
within ninety days .after the proof of the death of a member and 
forward the same to the Scribe of the Subordinate Temple of which 
the deceased was a member; to have charge of the seal, books and 
papers belonging to the Grand Temple; keep a true and correct 
account between the Grand Temple and Subordinate Temples, and 
at each session of the Grand Temple make a full and correct state 
ment of all moneys received and disbursed during the year; to 
receive .-ill moneys due the Grand Temple, and perform such duties 
as the law and usages of the order may require. His duties are of 



148 BEAi OX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

such a responsible character as to require the constant employment 
of several bookkeepers and clerks. He is authorized by the con- 
stitution to maintain his office in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. 

In connection with the work of the order is the publication of the 
Mosaic Guide, the official publication of the fraternity. It is well 

edited, newsy and has a wide and influential circulation. 

Class vnd Character of Its Members. 

The National Order of Mosaic Templars of America is not in any 
respect an inferior organization. Not only are its principles in 
harmony with the best thought of the century along economic, moral 
and business lines, but its members come from the best and most 
representative people of the race. It has not made ignorance a 
prerequisite for membership, but it has sought the association, benefit 
and counsel of intelligent men and women. An organization that 
can not bear the investigation and light of intelligent people is not 
worthy of the confidence and support of any people, be they intel- 
ligent or otherwise. Among the members of this order in the 
State of Arkansas and in other States are men of the greatest 
ability and highest integrity. Dr. K. C. Morris. President of the 
National Baptist Convention, and the peer of any other colored 
man in this country, is an honored member of this fraternity. Dr. 
Booker T. Washington, the Sage of Tuskegee, and his distinguished 
private secretary. Prof. E. J. Scott, are also members of this organi- 
zation. Nothing more is needed to show the status of this organiza- 
tion in the estimation of men that are capable of judging, for such 
eminent men and representative citizens would not be connected 
with any organization that does not stand for progress along all 
worthy lines. 

The Family of Hon. J. E. Bush. 

That Mr. Hush has never desired to shirk any of the responsi- 
bilities that are incident to his status as a moral and social being, is 
evidenced by the fact that he entered the holy state of matrimony by 
the time he had reached his majority. In the fateful year of I879j 
blessed with so many tender and loving memories, he wooed, won 
the heart of and led to the sacred altar Miss Cora Winfrey, the 
charming and accomplished daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Solomon 
Winfrey, of Little Hock. Arkansas. Mrs. Hush has always resided 
in the city of Little Hock, and has ev< r been conspicuously identified 
with the social lite of her native city. She has encouraged and 
stimulated her husband to Strive to do his best in the struggles of 
life, and she has been untiring in her < tl'orts to gain success for her 



BEACON LIGHTS OF I 111-: RACE 149 



in 



husband in every field of activity that fortune has decreed for hi 
to labor in. She and her husband have given their children the 
blessings of a good education to prepare them for the duties of 
life, and both of them have done their full duty to those whom 
benign Providence has committeed to their care. Three children 
survive to gladden their parents' pathway and crown their golden, 
autumnal days with sunshine and happiness. 

The Wealth of Hon. J. E. Bush. 

The wealth of the average individual is more a matter of specu- 
lation than of absolute knowledge, but the consensus of opinion of 
people that are in position to know and to judge is that the subject 
of this sketch is one of the wealthiest colored men in the State of 
Arkansas, if not the wealthiest. Certainly, he is now rated as 
probably the wealthiest colored citizen of Little Rock. It takes 
time for a man to amass riches. It also requires some degree of 
activity and shrewdness. Mr. Bush had the foresight to begin early 
to lay by something for the proverbial rainy day. He began in the 
palmy days of the race's opportunities to lay the foundation for 
his present unusual fortune. In the city of Little Rock alone he 
is the largest colored holder of realty. He is said to own one 
hundred and twenty pieces of improved property in his home city. 
He also has a deal of unimproved property in the same city. He 
has property scattered all over the city of Little Rock, and some 
of it is of the most substantial character. Just ten miles from the 
city of Little Rock he owns eighty acres of valuable farm land, 
for which he recently refused the attractive offer of $ 500 per acre, 
or a total offer of forty thousand dollars ($40,000). The policy 
of Mr. Bush has been to accumulate more property instead of dis- 
posing of that which he has. The income from his properties alone 
would be considered a great fortune for an ordinary man. While 
his salary as a high government official is splendid, yet it is a mere 
bagatelle in comparison with the handsome income that is derived 
from his various properties in the city of Little Rock and else- 
where. By people that are in absolute knowledge of his financial 
affairs, Mr. Bush's fortune is conservatively estimated at one hun- 
dred thousand dollars ($100,000). This colossal fortune would be 
a grand financial triumph for any white man blessed with every 
possible opportunity with which only a white man in this country 
can be blessed. How much more complimentary and creditable it 
is to a member of the despised Negro race, practically born a slave 
and possessed of no other opportunity except to labor in the sweat 
of his own brow and work out his own destiny in the providence 
of God. 






//;.;< ON LIGHTS OF THE RA( /." 




RESIDENCK OF J. E. BUSH 



His Palatial Home. 

There is no other love more appreciative; yearning and sacred 
than the Love of home. The sacred tics that bind as to home are 

none the less binding; be that home a lowly hut or lordly mansion. 
Hut the writer is to narrate a few facts about the most palatial 
home in the city of Little Rock that is owned by a colored man. 
Hon. J. E. Bush's residence is not only the finest residence of his 

race in the city of Little Rock, but it is the most magnificent resi- 
dence in the State. It is the good fortune ot' very few colored 
people in this country to own in their own right such a pretentious 

and substantial home as dots Mr. Bush. It is located at the inter- 
section of Sixteenth and Cluster streets, is one and one-half stories 
high, and contains fourteen rooms. It is baronial in its dimensions 
and suitable for the needs of the majority ot' reasonable men. Its 
arrangement is such as to satisfy the taste ot' the most fastidious and 
the desires of the most ambitious. In its construction are combined 
solid comfort, elegance and luxury. The final cost ot' his palatial 
residence will approximate tin thousand dollars i > 1 0.000). The 
residence of Mr. Hush is the cynosure of all eves in the Hose City, 
and no visitor to the citv of Little Hock can he said to have Seen 



BE A COX LI (! Ill* OF THE BAi E 151 

the city unless he has beheld the baronial mansion of Hon. J. E. 
Bush. Of that home there can be said one tiling that is indisputable 
and that is that there is no other woman that can preside with more 
queenly grace over such a home than its accomplished mistress, 
Madame J. E. Hush. Living in an elegant home is no novelty for 
her, and in her new home she is only the better able to show her 
accomplishments to better advantage. 

Hon. J. E. Bush a Race Leader. 
Mr. Bush is the leader of the Republican party in the State 
of Arkansas, and there is no one to question his supremacy in the 
domain of either State or national politics. There are veterans in 
the Republican party whose heads have grown hoary in the service 
of the party, but there is no other member of the party that has a 
greater claim on the party for services rendered than he. As a 
member of the Republican State Executive Committee, for years he 
has been in close touch with the life of the party and in position 
to shape its principles and policies. He is a member of the Execu- 
tive Committee of the National Negro Business League and a pow- 
erful factor in the deliberations of that body of distinguished men. 
His success as a high-class politician has been largely due to the 
fact that he is also a high-class business man. He is also an orator 
of peculiar force and ability. There are a breadth of thought 
and a profundity of reason in his oratorical efforts that raise them 
far above the reach of the commonplace orators, with which the 
rostrums and platforms teem. The glittering generalities and lofty 
platitudes of the average orator rind no place in his discourses. He 
is a keen judge of human nature, and can not easily be imposed upon. 
He is an adroit and experienced politician, and can play the game 
of political chess with any man in the State. He has taken an active 
part in public affairs since the days of his early manhood, and thert 
is not a man in the State that has profited more than he has from 
the experience and training. Among all classes of citizens in his 
home city he is a man of high standing and great influence. His 
personal wishes with the white citizens of his town are often of 
greater weight than a battalion of lesser lights of the race. He 
is a race leader because there are in his character all the elements 
that can command success. In the battle of life he has been a valiant 
commander and has led his cohorts to victory in nearly every con- 
flict. His honored name is Bush, and he is a veritable burning Bush 
that furnishes to his benighted race a light to lead it from the dark- 
ness of ignorance, superstition and poverty into the broad sunlight 
of peace, prosperity and happiness. The name of Bush stands for 
leadership, wealth and honor in the State of Arkansas, and it would 
be a great compliment to any man of any race to command the same 
degree of respect and honor. 



152 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




S< "II 1MND 




BILK OS LKUITS OF THE RACE 153 



Scott Bond, Madison, Ark. 

Planter, Cotton Buyer and Merchant. 

HAT tlit- achievement of success does not depend upon the 
accident of birth, the color of the skin, or the avantages 
of education, has been demonstrated in countless instances 
in the ranks of all the races of mankind, but it has been 
left by an all-wise Providence to the Negro race in the American 
Southland to present to the world one of its most extraordinary and 
one of its most astonishing examples of success in the person of 
Mr. Scott Bond, of Madison, Arkansas, who, though born a slave, 
has already risen to sublimer heights in the world of success than 
millions of the dominant race who were blessed with a thousand 
years of freedom and opportunity to make the most of . life. The 
teeming centuries on the wings of time will come and go, bringing 
to the world glad tidings of success, but few indeed will be the 
men that will, like the subject of this sketch, make a name and fame 
among their fellow countrymen that will be heard around the world. 

His Birthplace. 

Mr. Scott Bond is a native of the State of Mississippi, and was 
born a slave near Livingstone, Madison County, March 15, 1852. 
He was brought away from his native State to the State of Ten- 
nessee when he was only an infant eighteen months old. and 
remained there until the year of 1861, when his owners moved with 
him to the State of Arkansas, in which he has resided ever since. 



The Joy Bells of Freedom Ring. 

When the bells of freedom sent forth their joyful peals through- 
out the land, 

"Ringing out the old. ringing in the new, 
Ringing out the false, ringing in the true." 

the subject of this sketch was a mere youth of thirteen years. Liv- 
ing in a virgin country, and subjected to the struggles and hardships 
of pioneer lite, there was much in that life to develop and make 
rugged his character and lay the foundation for his grand success 
in*after life. The turning point in his life came in his twenty-tit th 
year with his marriage to the dear and loving wife whose faithful- 
ness for over a third of a century has been the one grand inspira- 
tion of his life. If the name of Mr. Scott Bond stands for anything 



154 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

of worth, respect and esteem among his fellow citizens, it is largely 
due to the encouragement, sacrifices and fidelity of his dear and 
devoted wife. 

Starting Out to Climb. 

At the, time of his marriage to Miss Magnolia Nash, of Magnolia 

Springs, Virginia, in the year of 1877, Mr. Bond and his dear wife 
had but little more than a broken skillet and a few primitive fur- 
nishings for their little log cabin. Those were the days that really 
tested tlie ingenuity and resourcefulness of a wife, hut Mrs. Mag- 
nolia Bond proved that she was equal to every emergency. Too 
poor to purchase for themselves an ordinary mattress for their 
comfort, it was the wife's resourcefulness that made her rip up 
coffee saeks and stuff them witli hay. after they had been sewt d 
together, for the purpose of serving the comfort of a real mattress. 
After his marriage he worked on shares for a while and then began 
to rent his land. lie was very ambitious as a farmer, and rented 
considerable land, so that the amount that was paid by him for 
rent yearly amounted to a large sum of money. He rented until 
in some mysterious manner it dawned upon his unthinking mind 
that if he could work and make such a great sum of money with 
which to pay rent to somebody else, surely he might as well work 
and earn money for the purpose of buying land for himself. Finally 
he invested money in his first purchase of a farm, and in the course 
of time he succeeded, with the encouragement and assistance of his 
wife, in paying for his first farm. 

Climbing Higheb and 11k. her. 

After Mr. Bond had been successful in sacrificing and paying 
tor his first farm, he became more and more ambitious to rise in 
lite and own other farms. Gradually this determination to own 
more land became tin passion of his life, and the result was that 
he succeeded in purchasing a new farm every year or so until he is 
now the owner of twenty different farms, with a total of more 
than four thousand acres. It is now the confirmed policy of Mr. 
Bond to buy at least one farm every year, and in this laudable 
ambition he has the faithful co-operation of his energetic sons. He 
is now the colored land king of the South, and his broad and fertile 

acres remind one of the lordly estates of the mighty barons of 
mediaeval times. 

The Largest [ndividual Colored Planter in the World. 

I'h. sul.jeet of this sketch is the owner of tour thousand acres 
of land in the basin of the St, Francis River. The land is alluvial. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 155 

and is noted for its wonderful fertility. In productive capacity it 
can hardly be surpassed on the American continent, one acre of it 
in a good crop year producing from a bale to a bale and a half of 
cotton. Thus this land is almost of fabulous value, and much of it 
can not be purchased at any price. At a reasonably conservative 
valuation the four thousand fertile acres of .Mr. Bond ought to be 
worth fully $800,000. In order that its great value be fully realized, 
it is only necessary to state that if all of his fertile acres were in 
actual cultivation and should produce an even bale to the acre, worth 
$75 per bale, he would receive an annual income of $300,000. 
Therefore, the estimated value of Mr. Bond's fertile acres is in 
excess of $300,000, rather than under that sum. So far as record^ 
are available for comparison, Mr. Bond is easily the largest indi- 
vidual planter of the colored race in the world. He is the land 
king of the South, and there is no one to contest his well-earned 
supremacy. 

The Largest Colored Renter in the St. Francis Basin. 

Not only has Mr. Bond the unique distinction of being the largest 
individual colored land owner and planter in the State of Arkansas, 
but he is also the largest renter of farming land in the South. He 
rents four thousand acres of alluvial land in the St. Francis River 
Basin, and he is in the market to rent just as many more acres as 
will be available for the purpose. The sum total that he pays for 
rent alone is in excess of $30,000 annually. 

A Multitude of Share Farmers. 

The eight thousand acres of land that Mr. Bond cultivates 
require a multitude of share farmers, and it is estimated that nearly 
four hundred families are employed in the cultivation of his lands. 
This host of tillers of the soil is supplied with the necessaries of life 
from the great mercantile establishment of Mr. Bond, and at least 
one thousand bales of cotton are annually paid on accounts to Mr. 
Bond by these tenants. Few of the mighty barons of mediaeval 
times had a greater number of people dependent upon their assist- 
ance and generosity. 

The Owner of a Large Gravel Pit. 

That Mr. Bond has a firm hold on the earth and the fullness' 
thereof is shown in the fact that he is tin- owner of one of the 
largest gravel pits in the State of Arkansas. His gravel pit is one 
and three-fourths miles in length, and is located contiguous to the 



r 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



right of way of the Rock Island Railroad. This great railroad cor- 
poration was quick to perceive the advantage of the proximity of 
this large and inexhaustible supply of gravel, and consequentlv 
entered into a contract with Mr. Bond to furnish this great railroad 
with all the gravel that it may need on its right of way for several 
hundred miles. This immense gravel pit is no insignificant source 
of wealth, and shows a beautiful example of how nature herself 
sometimes conspires to make a deserving man rich beyond the 
dream of avarice. 

\i\* One of the Largest Orchards in Eastern Arkansas. 

That Mr. Bond believes in doing everything on a colossal scale 
is demonstrated in the case of his magnificent orchard, which is one 
of the Largest in the eastern part of the State of Arkansas. In this 
great orchard, which covers many acres, there are three thousand 
peach trees of excellent variety, and two thousand apple trees, not to 
enumerate other varieties of trees which contribute their share to 
the profit and pleasure of their worthy owner. 




Madison (ii\ Company Theo. Bond. Manager. 



Mr. Bond is tin owner <>t one <»t' the most complete ginneries in 
the State of Arkansas. The Madison Gin Company is the only 
ginnery in the community of Madison. Ark., and it has a monopoly 
of the ginning tor a radius of many miles. Situated as it is on 
the bank of ih. St. Francis River, it is thus accessible both by Land 
and by water, and cotton is sent to be ginned there from distant 



BEACON LI" Ills OF THE RACE 157 

places on the St. Francis River. The ginnery is complete and 
modern in every particular and it is of the Continental Munger 
system. It has six "in stands, with a total capacity of one hundred 
bales in twelve hours. Its machinery is run with a 100 horsepower 
engine, that is provided with a lf>0 horsepower boiler. In the short 
crop season of 1 900-10 the Madison Gin Company ginned 2,485 
bales of cotton. In connection with his ginnery, Mr. Bond is the 
largest buyer of cotton seed in the eastern part of Arkansas, for he 
is a bidder for all of the cotton seed that is produced in his com- 
munity. He pays the highest price that the market calls for, and 
he is in position to compete with any other buyer of cotton seed in 
the State. It matters not whether the cotton output is five thousand 
bales or fifty thousand bales, Mr. Bond is in the market to buy cotton 
seed at the highest price market quotation. The Madison Gin Com- 
pany is one of the best equipped pieces of machinery in the State, 
and was built at a total cost of $13,000. The master mind back 
of the operation of the Madison Gin Company is its manager, Mr. 
Theo. Bond, who is one of the best informed young men in his 
line in the whole State of Arkansas. He is an energetic, brainy 
young business man, and one of the most valuable assets in the man- 
agement of his father's vast business. 

Scott Bond, Dealer in Dry Goods, Groceries and Genehal 
Merchandise, Madison, Ark. 

Possibly the most substantial and most pretentious building in the 
town of Madison, Ark., is the Bond Mercantile Building. It is a 
mammoth concrete structure, with three floors devoted to mercantile 
purposes. The building is 110 feet long and 30 feet wide, and is 
in all probability the largest mercantile establishment in the State 
that is owned and managed by a colored man. In this great estab- 
lishment is kept nearly every commodity that the taste or necessities 
of the people can desire. Wagons, buggies, furniture, agricultural 
implements, hardware, dry goods, groceries and notions are spread 
out before the eyes in one mad riot of plentitude and excellence. 
It is not a mere country store, but it is such a mercantile emporium 
as would do justice to a large commercial center. It is the store 
for the masses and the man in the grimy overalls or the man with 
kid gloves and patent leather pumps can find something to his 
liking in this great store. The best brands of shoes are kept in 
stock, among which is the Frederick Douglass shoe, which is manu- 
factured bv a colored shoe factory up in Massachusetts. 

This store does an enormous business in the course ot a year. 
It furnishes the bulk of the supplies for nearly four hundred ten- 
ants on the lands of Mr. Bond, and it enjoys a well established trad- 



158 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

from the general public it Large. From five to eight clerk-, are 
employed from time to time, and in the busiest part of the autumn 
these clerks have tu handle a stock of u < > < > 1 1 ^ that will invoice from 
$20,000 tn $25,000. This mammoth two-story concrete building is 
valued at $12,000. 

The Bond Patent New Ground Plow. 

The true farmer is one of the greatest geniuses of the world, 
tor it is his province not only to cultivate the soil, which is the 
source of all wealth and prosperity for both individuals and nations, 
hut he must be able to restore the chemical elements of the soil 
which the various crops produced thereon have drawn out. so that 
the soil may retain its fertility and productive power without loss. 
Next to the knowledge of lands and soils is the knowlege of how 
best to cultivate the soil, and this knowledge has to do not only 
with the time, but also the manner of cultivating the soil. The 
various agricultural implements that are used in the cultivation of 
the soil have wrought a revolution in farming methods and the 
whole routine of farm work has been improved and dignified until 
it may be considered one of the fine arts of rustic life. 

Mr. Bond has contributed his share of time and intellect to the 
improvement of the farming life of the nation by manufacturing and 
putting on the market his famous patent New Ground Plow, which 
is proving to be the most effective plow on the market for the culti- 
vation of new ground land. 

It> 1 >ES< RIPTION. 



er 

e 



The famous Bond Patent New Ground Plow has a patent coulte 
fastener. This shrewd mechanical device in connection with th. 
extra length and heavy weight of the plow enables it to run more 
easily and more effectively than it would if its dimensions were 
otherwise. It has already been proved to be the kin:; of new ground 
plows, and its owmr feels so confident oi its superiority over all 
other plows thai are manufactured for that particular purpose that 
it is sold mid' r a guarantee to do satisfactory work. This plow 
lias nut been very Long on the market, but it has already gained an 
enviable reputation for effective results in new ground cultivation. 
The proper cultivation of new ground is the nightmare of farming 
life, but with the use of this famous patent new ground plow that 
is owned and manufactured by Mr. Bond & Sons the terrors of new 
ground cultivation will be reduced to a minimum. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 159 

Its Popularity. 

The popularity of any agricultural implement may be estimated 

to a great extent by its sales. The sale of this plow has been really 
phenomenal, and to Such an extent has tliis been the case that the 
manufacturing plant has had to be enlarged in order to meet the 
pressing demands of the trade. Orders are being filled from all 
parts of the States of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and 
other States. The Bond Patent Xew Ground Plow represents the 
highest skill in the manufacturer's art, and is already revolutionizing 
new ground cultivation. Its superior merits have already been tested 
and every owner of this plow is an appreciative and grateful 
endorser of it. 

The Pond Sawmill. 

Not only is Mr. Bond one of the largest land owners of the State 
of Arkansas, but he is also one of the largest owners of timber binds. 
In this age of material prosperity there is such a great demand for 
building material that timber is now of almost fabulous value. 
Realizing the benefits that would in time accrue to him from the 
sale of his timber, Mr. Pond decided to erect a sawmill for the pur- 
pose of manufacturing lumber for all purposes. This sawmill 
operates in connection with his ginnery, and is a large, up-to-date 
plant. The erection of the sawmill is the climax in the industrial 
scheme of Mr. Pond and confers upon him the honor of being able 
to cater practically to every necessity of the people of his com- 
munity. Viewed in this light, he is not only a wide-awake, progress- 
ive business man, but he is also a benefactor to those among whom 
his life is cast. 

The Bond Bookkeeping Department. 

It is but reasonable to suppose that the proper supervision and 
management of the vast and varied business interests of Mr. Scott 
Bond would require a comprehensive system of bookkeeping. Such 
really is the case, and is the explanation for the installation of the 
most complete system of keeping accounts that can be found out- 
side of a regular counting house. Less than a decade ago the busi- 
ness transactions of Mr. Scott Pond were not so systematically 
recorded as they now are. In the year of 1904 his business affairs 
had reached such proportions as to require the installation of 1 
modern system of bookkeeping. That he might do so intelligently , 
he went about it in his characteristic manner by sending his son, 
Mr. Waverly Thomas Pond, to the Oberlin Pusiness College, Ober- 
lin, Ohio. This talented son graduated from the Oberlin Busini ~- 
College in the year of 190 1. and immediately took charge of the 



160 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

bookkeeping department of his father. His thorough knowledge of 

bookkeeping and business principles has enabled him to install for 
his lather a system of bookkeeping that is as complete as cm be 
found in any business house in this country. The bookkeeping 
d< partment is fitted up with every modern facility and convenience, 
such as costly adding machines, typewriters and other office para- 
phernalia, and being under the business genius that installed and 
perfected it, this department is easily one of the most complete in 
the State. 

Scott Bond & Sons. 

In one particular Mr. Scott Bond is a very fortunate man and he 
is really blessed, for he has four educated and talented sons that 
make, possibly, the most capable and the most perfect business com- 
bination that it has ever been the writer's privilege to see in one 
colored family. It is often the case that the very wealth of the 
parent means an utterly worthless set of children, but the sons of 
Mr. Scott Bond form a happy exception to the general rule, for 
their energy, efficiency and fidelity have contributed wonders toward 
making their father the "Black John I). Rockefeller of the South." 
They form a veritable Macedonian phalanx in that part of the 
business world that affects their father's interests, and for the same 
reason they make an invincible combination in commercial lite. 
That Mr. Bond highly appreciates the fidelity of his sons and their 
loyalty to his vast interests is evidenced by his voluntary admission 
of them to partnership with him in all of his business affairs. While 
the father is of an energetic and active temperament, and would 
prefer to wear out in service rather than to rust out in inactivity, yet 
the energy and capability of his sons render it unnecessary for him 
to take as active a part in the management of his business affairs 
as he formerly did. Each of his sons has his specialty and is master 
of the same. In addition to their educational training, they have 
inherited the shrewd, natural business intelligence of their father, 
and they make a business combination that can hardly be surpassed. 

His Sons. 

The Secretary. Treasurer and Manager of the business depart- 
ment of the firm of Bond & Sons is Mr. Waverly Thomas Bond, who 
is well equipped, both by education and practical experience, for 
his responsibility. He received his literary training at Roger Wil- 
liams University, Nashville, Tenn., and his business education at 
the Oberlirj Business College, from which he graduated in the year 
of 1904. Iii the year of 1900 he was united in marriage to Miss 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



161 



Annie Rhoton, of Tullahoma. Tcnn., and her encouragement and 
assistance have had much to do with the unusual success of her hus- 
hand. .Mr. Waverlv Thomas Bond is not only a thorough business 




WAVKRLV TIIHMAS Bl IND 



man. but he is a stalwart, prepossessing Looking man. and would look 
perfectly at home in Wall street, New York, hobnobbing with the 
bloated bondholders in that staid and aristocratic thoroughfare. 



162 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




l iii-oi nil US BOND 



The General Manager of the farm and ginnerj is Mr. Theophilus 

Bond. lie is the ubiquitous and irrepressible bustler that is always 

Dii the go, looking after the rasl interests for which he is directly 

I '• sponsible. I [< is one of tin most valuable assi ts "t the busi- 



/;/:./' <>.\ LIGHTS OF THE RACE 163 

ness combination, tor his sunshiny disposition and congenial per- 
sonality make him a popular favorite wherever he goes, lit has a 
host of friends, and it is probable tli.it lie lias not an enemy of his 
voluntary making in the whole wide world, lie received his aca- 
demic training at Roger Williams University, and is thus well pre- 
pared for the exigencies of business life. He is a high-class busi- 
ness man. and is the fifth wheel in the management of his depart- 
ment of the firm's business. He is a young man that is still heart 
whole and fancy free, and is probably waiting for the affinity that 
was created for his happiness, and who is somewhere in this wide and 
beautiful world. 

The general utility hustler in the firm's mercantile establishment 
is Mr. John Bond, a young man of splendid parts. He is one of 
the strong spokes in the wheel of the company's success, and can 
always be depended upon to do his part satisfactorily and well. 

The youngest son is Master Ulysses Bond, who is now living the 
happy life of a student at Atlanta Baptist College, Atlanta, Ga. 
He is blessed with those golden opportunities which will help to 
make him a serviceable and efficient member of society, and there 
can be no doubt that he will fall in line and be a "chip off the old 
block," just as the others are. 

His Devoted and Faithful Wife. 

If Mr. Scott Bond ever had any luck in this life, it was way 
back in the year of 1877, when he married his ever faithful and 
devoted wife. The world loudly proclaims the fact that Mr. Scott 
Bond is one of the most successful men and one of the greatest 
financiers in the ranks of the Negro race, all of which is true; but 
great as has been the success of Mr. Bond, it would not have been a 
possibility if it had not been for the energy, sacrifices, encourage- 
ment and assistance of his dear wife, who for years not only looked 
after his domestic affairs, but worked with him side by side in the 
hot and burning fields, trying to help him to climb higher and higher 
in the struggles of life. The honor and the glory belong to both of 
them, and there is no other man in this wide world who more deeply 
appreciates than he does the blessings that benign Providenee 
bestowed upon him when fate led him to seek the hand and heart 
of his faithful companion over one-third of a century ago. Hand 
in hand they have walked down the road of life, toiling, sorrowing 
and rejoicing, as the exigencies of life would cause them, until they 
have reached this blessed milestone on life's journey. Mrs. Mag- 
nolia Bond has proved her worth, not only to her dear husband, but 
to her country, for she has given to it as a precious legacy eleven 
children, four of whom are still living and shedding their choici -' 




i Mi W ivei s Bond. 

U I y ssi I 



3. M M Bond 

4. lotin Bond. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF HIE RA< 'E 165 

benedictions upon her life. Very few women have undergone what 
she has undergone, ami still fewer will have such a substantial 
reward in this terrestrial life as she. She is one of the best women 
in the world, and the success of her husband demonstrates this fact 
beyond peradventure of doubt. 

A Remarkable Character. 

That the subject of this sketch is a remarkable character can not 
be denied. He is an original product, a veritable diamond in the 
rough. He did not rub his head against college walls, but he is 
one of the clearest and most logical thinkers that one would meet in 
a day's journey from home. He is fundamentally sound in his ideas 
on all tilings of public moment, and he is one of the most interest- 
ing and most entertaining conversationalists that one would wish to 
see. That he is a profound as well as an original thinker is evident 
to all who have been so fortunate as to attend the sessions of the 
National Negro Business League in recent years. He is not a 
polished orator, but his plain and homely talks have always pro- 
foundly impressed his hearers, made them think and set their 
tongues to wagging. His wonderful resources made such a pro- 
found impression at the session of the National Negro Business 
League in the city of New York that the metropolitan press heralded 
him as the "Black John D. Rockefeller of the South.'' In the State 
of Arkansas there is no other man of either race that deserves and 
commands the confidence, respect and esteem of his fellows to a 
greater extent than he does, and he is certainly one colored man of 
whom it may truthfully be said that "his word alone is as good as a 
government bond. " 




166 



/;/:./' ON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




KK\ . I. \ Bl M »KEB 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 167 



Rev. J. A. Booker. A.M., D.D., Little Hod,-. Ark. 

President of Arkansas Baptist College. 

HERE has ever been an ' honest difference of opinion 
among men as to what Held of activity will best promote 
the welfare and conserve the happiness of mankind. 
Without entering upon any labored attempt to prove the 
advantage of any particular kind of effort over another in behalf 
of human progress, ii may be succinctly stated that the opportunity 
to serve human necessities is the highest attainable honor for any 
man. What the world needs today is determined, energetic and 
serviceable men and women to work out in intelligent service the 
salvation of the race, for it is in the domain of service that the race 
will reach its greatest possibilities. 

Among the mighty forces that tend to promote the welfare and 
happiness of the Negro race there is no other force that is so 
potential as that of the trained, devoted and consecrated educators 
of the race. They are indeed the royal servants of the race, and 
have done more than any other human agency, with the exception 
of the ministry, to raise the race to power, dignity and honor. The 
real life of the race is an enduring monument to the school teachers 
and educators of the race, who have demonstrated to the world the 
fact that the pen is the most useful instrument of human progress. 

Among the progressive educators of the race, few have served 
so well the interests of the race as has the worthy and consecrated 
subject of this sketch, for he has devoted his whole life to the 
training and development of the youth of the race, and through his 
instrumentality countless thousands of the race have been prepared 
to serve well the cause of human progress. 

His Birthplace. 

Rev. J. A. Booker, the honored President of Arkansas Baptist 
College, Little Rock. Ark., is a native of the State of Arkansas, 
and was born near Portland. Ashley County, December 26, 185p. 
Having been born and reared in the State of Arkansas, he presents 
an unusual spectacle, for there are indeed few citizens of his age, 
experience and ability that can claim the State of Arkansas .* 
the field of their birth and the permanent theater of their labors. 
Most of the eminent men in the State of Arkansas are natives of 
the older States of the East, and this exception in the case of the 
worthy President of the Arkansas Baptist College is as pleasing as 
it is novel. 



168 BEACON LI (HITS OF THE BAi E 

His Education for Service. 

The subject of this sketch attended the rural schools of his native 
county until he was nineteen years of age, and thus his opportuni- 
ties for education were of the most meager character. He had only 
the most primitive educational advantages in his home county in 
those early days, but he made the best possible use of his oppor- 
tunities. In the winter of 1878 he managed to get to Branch Nor- 
mal College, Pine Bluff, Ark., then one of the leading institutions 
of learning in the State. That matchless educator. Prof. J. C. 
Corbin, was at the head of that institution, and it was under his 
inspiration that the subject no doubt gained much of his determina- 
tion to make a mark for himself in the intellectual word. He 
remained a student of Branch Normal College for three years, 
or until the year of 1881, when he transferred his allegiance to 
another and even worthier institution of learning. 

Off to Roger Williams University. 

In the autumn of 1881 the subject of this sketch matriculated 
as a student at the old Nashville Institute, which is now known as 
Roger Williams University. For five long years he labored dili- 
gently in the mastery of the various tasks that were incident to his 
school life, and finally received his merited reward as a graduate 
of that institution witli the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the year 
of 1886. Having thus prepared himself to serve the welfare of his 
people with the greatest degree of efficiency, he felt himself ready 
to assume the grave responsibilities for which he had so long been 
making preparation. 

His Career as an Educator. 

Dr. .1. A. Booker has an exceptional career as an educator and 
such a worthy record as can hardly be duplicated in this day. He 
began his early career as a teacher in the night school on the plan- 
tation when lie was only twelve years old. and continued his ser- 
vices in that capacity for three or four years. Notwithstanding the 
fact that he is now the honored President of one of the leading edu- 
cational institutions of the land, it is probable that his present 
exalted position as an educator has never given him greater pride 
than the humble service that he was able to render his people when 
he was a mere child teacher on the plantation many years ago. 

In tlie year of 1875 he began his career as a teacher in the common 
schools of his native county. He taught school in all of the sum' 

niers of' his student career, both at Branch Normal College and 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 169 

Roger Williams University. The theater of his teaching activities 
was in his native county of Ashley ; nor has he ever taught outside 
of his native county or' State. He has always made good, and has 
never had to seek employment outside of the boundary of his native 
State. 

President of Arkansas Baptist College in 1887- 

As it has already been stated, the subject of this sketch gradu- 
ated from Roger Williams University in the year of 1886 with the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the year of 1887 he was elected to 
the Presidency of Arkansas Baptist College, which at that time was 
more a college in theory than in actual existence. The subsequent 
banner educational institution of the Baptist denomination in the 
State of Arkansas did not own a foot of land, and it carried on its 
school sessions in borrowed churches and rented lodge halls. At 
the time the subject took hold of the presidency the school had an 
enrollment of thirty pupils, and there was only one other teacher 
besides the worthy President himself. From this humble nucleus 
the college has made one of the most marvelous gains of any insti- 
tution in the land. In the year of 1887 the entire student body 
was merely local, and could have been assembled in the room of an 
ordinary family, but so wonderfully has the college grown in popu- 
lar appreciation and favor that it now has an enrollment of 425 
students from seven different States, and they are trained and gov- 
erned by fifteen capable and efficient teachers. 

Arkansas Baptist College. 

(a) 
Its Auspices. 

The college is an enduring monument to the Negro Baptists of 
the State of Arkansas, who own and operate it through their Bap- 
tist State Convention. Notwithstanding the fact that the college 
is denominational, there is no religious exelusiveness in its manage- 
ment. The spirit of the institution is Christian, rather than denomi- 
national, and its doors are freely open to the youth of all conditions 
and creeds. 

(b) 
College Buildings. 

The college is located in the southwestern section of the city of 
Little Rock, and its campus occupies nearly four acres of valuable 
land in one of the most desirable sections of the city. Its principal 




Ml KANSAS BAP tlSI COLLEG1 

i. Boys' I (ormitorj 

Alumni Cottage Che President ^ Home. 
J, Main B I 



/»•/:. ICON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 171 

buildings are capacious and attractivej and form the nucleus for 
many other handsome structures that will be erected as soon as the 
financial resources of the college will render it possible. The valu- 
ation of the college property, both in the city and country, will 
approximate $75,000. 

(c) 
Griggs Industrial Farm. 

Through the philanthropic inception of Miss Helen M. Griggs, 
who gave the first purchase money therefor, and still contributes at 
least $100 a year for its improvement, the college owns a valuable 
farm of 100 acres of land, on which it can teach the principles of 
agriculture in a scientific, practical and effective manner. On this 
farm are one four-room tenant house, one store house, a capacious 
barn and a cotton gin that is operated by steam power. On this 
valuable farm site other important industries will be put in opera- 
tion just as soon as the necessary financial support is forthcoming. 
Stock raising, dairying, brick making and a woodworking factory 
are some of the contemplations for the near future. 

(d) 
Resources and Maintenance. 

A great opportunity is presented to the charitably inclined mem- 
bers of the race who believe in the virtue and efficacy of Christian 
education to assist one of the worthiest educational institutions of 
the race. If education is necessary for the white race, and has 
made it the all-powerful and all-conquering race of the world, it is 
certainly necessary for any people who an- in the very infancy of 
their development. Christian education should be the shibboleth 
of the rank and file, not only of the great Baptist denomination 
of the State of Arkansas, but of every other denomination that is 
anxious to promote the welfare and prosperity of the race. The 
members of the race must encourage and support the private institu- 
tions of learning, for they are the only institutions in this South- 
land in which the Negro youth are permitted without any restric- 
tions whatsoever to learn anything that they have an ambition 
to learn. The time is rapidly approaching when the individual 
members of the race, rather than the State or the nation, will have 
to bear the burden of responsibility for the higher education of the 
race. In the Southern States the idea is rapidly crystallizing that 
purely industrial education is the only sensible training for the 
youth of the race. So the handwriting is plainly seen on the wall 
that if the higher educational institutions of the race are to he fos 
tered and maintained, the Negroes themselves must assume th< 
responsibility by contributing to their own institutions their moral 
and financial support. 



e 



172 BEAC02I LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

The present expenses of Arkansas Baptisi College amount to 
more than $20,000 yearly. The school lias no endowment, and there 
fore must depend upon the philanthropy and generosity of the 
friends of Christian education wherever they may be found. The 

income from students' fees is sufficient to defray only a fractional 
part of the current expenses of the school, and this leaves a vast 
sum to be raised from external sources. Hen is presented a golden 
opportunity to foster the cans, of ( hristian education and at the 
same time show to the world that the men and women of the race 
have enough interest and pride in the education of the youth of the 
race to make .very necessary sacrifice to promote their welfare. 
Who will be the next to contribute to the maintenance of this worthy 
institution of the race? The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are 
few. The worthy President of this institution is deeply grateful to 
the friends of Christian education for their kindly assistance in the 
past, and he sincerely hopes that the work of the college will con- 
tinue to merit their endorsement and support. 

His Career as a Minister. 

Rev. .1. A. Booker began his long and useful career in the gospel 
ministry when he was only sixteen years old. but he was not for- 
mally ordained in the ministry until after he had graduated from 
Roger Williams University in the year of 188(5. While a student 
of his alma mater he studied theology and nearly completed the 
regular course in theology. He made serious preparations for suc- 
cess in the ministry, and he would not seek ordination honors until 
he had thoroughly prepared himself tor the most effective serv ici 
in the sacred calling to which he had dedicated the energies of his 
life. His whole ministerial life has been spent at the head of the 
college rather than in tin 1 pastorate. He is one of the most effective 
pulpit orators of the denomination, and he brings to the mastery of 
his calling all the powers which experience, training and high 
scholarship can produce. His life is a credit to his calling, and 
the race needs others like him to make the ministry a credit and 
honor to the race. 

His Honorary Degrees. 

In the year of 1894 his alma mater. Roger Williams University, 
conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. In the vear of 

IfMU the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon 
him by State University, Louisville, Ky.. and the Same honor was 
conferred upon him by Shaw ("Diversity. Raleigh. N. (.'.. in the 
year of 1902. These are all reputable institutions of learning, and 

their official endorsement of' one's scholarship and intellectual worth 

is worth more than a mere passing notice. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE /.'./' E 173 

Editor of The Vanguard. 

Rev. J. A. Booker is editor of the Baptist Vanguard, the official 
organ of the Baptist denomination in the State of Arkansas. The 
paper is published at the college, and has a general circulation nil 

over the State of Arkansas. President Hooker has been activel) 
connected with the editorship of this paper for nearly twenty-five 
vears. with only an occasional intermission. 

His Faithful and Energetic Wife. 

If the life inspiration of the subject has ever been to serve his 
people to the best of his ability, the same can be said of his faithful 
and energetic wife, with whose assistance and noble sacrifices the 
great record of the President of the college has been made possible 
On the 28th of June, 1887, the subject of this sketch was united 
in marriage to Miss Mary J. Caver, of Helena. Ark. Both the 
doctor and his estimable wife were students at Roger Williams 
University at the same time, and it was in those halcyon days that 
the two plighted their troth ever to love and comfort the other as 
long as life should last. She was a teacher in the Helena public 
school for three years. Since her marriage her life work has been 
connected wholly with the- college, for which she has done a work of 
far-reaching beneficence. Her unremitting efforts .and noble sacri- 
fices have frequently brought daylight out of Stygian darkness and 
the college is as much a monument to her unremitting efforts as it 
is to those of her able husband. 

The Children. 

Eight children have been born to Rev. and Mrs. .1. A. Booker, 
and all of them have enjoyed the best of educational advantages, as 
far as their ages would permit. Miss Mattie Albert Booker is a 
graduate of the academic department of Arkansas Baptist College. 
She is an expert musician and completed the course of music at the 
Arkansas Baptist College and the advanced music course at Spell- 
man Seminary. Atlanta, Ga. She also took a summer course in 
music at the Chicago Musical College. She completed the course 
in stenography in the Arkansas Baptist College, and is now the 
honored teacher of both music and stenography in the college over 
which her father presides. Miss Carrie Isabella Booker is a grad- 
uate of the academic and collegiate departments of Arkansas Baptist 
College. She is a scholar of the first magnitude, and is also pro 
ficient in music. Joseph R. Booker is a graduate of the academic 
department of the same college. Helen Griggs Hooker, named for 



174 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA> E 

ii i -. financial friend. Miss Helen M. Griggs, formerly •>; Boston, is 
doing successful work in the academic department, and will gradu- 
ate in 1914. All of the children are musical and capable of the 
highest degree of service in that line. 

An Estimate or President Booker. 

It is hardly an exaggeration to declare that President J. A. 
Booker is the most influential educator of the race in the State of 
Arkansas. Honored with the presidency of the Leading institution 
of learning of tin- Baptist denomination in his State In- is by 
virtue of the power of numbers alone, if nothing else, the leading 
educational force in tin- State. Hut if to this popular advantage 
there lie added his unusual worth as a citizen and superior attain- 
ments as a scholar, a combination for effective service is produced 
that can not be surpassed in tin- State. He is the quintessence of 
simplicity and kindness, and there is not an atom of pretense or 
affectation in his character. He is a man of the highest ideals, and 
he has faithfully striven to impress upon his student body his 
exalted conceptions of life and its responsibilities. For nearly a 
quarter of a century he has been at the head of this premier insti- 
tution of the race, and his wise and progressive Leadership has 
elevated the institution from the humblest beginning to one of 
the most worthy institutions in the galaxy of the colleges of the 
race. From a poor, struggling youth on the farm to the presidency 
of one of the best colleges of the race is no insignificant achieve- 
ment for even a member of the white race. Much more creditable, 
therefore, is it for a colored man who was practically born in slav- 
ery and had only the barest plantation opportunities tor intellectual 
culture in the days of his youth. President Hooker's administration 
has been one of the most successful in the annals of American college 
life, and seldom has it been the honor of any president of a college 
of the race to have such a Long and honorable tenure of office* 
President Hooker is the right man in tin right place, and this fact 
must be evident to his constituency, who have repeatedly honored 
him with re-election to his position of trust and responsibility. He 
is one of the foremost college presidents of the time, and he has 
thoroughly demonstrated the administrative ability of the Negro 

race. The Baptists of the State of Arkansas are to be congratu- 
lated tor having in their ranks such a capable, efficient and devoted 

leader. He has served the cause of the denomination in the Stile 

nl' Arkansas to the best of his ability, but he has also served the 

cause of human progress equally as will. lb- is an energetic and 
progressive man. and such a man as he is produced only at Long 

intervals, and then only when the exigencies of' humanity demand 
the production. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 175 



Rev. J. P. Robinson, A.M., D.D., LI.. I).. Little Rock, Ark. 

Pastor ok the First Baptist Church. 

N ALT. the ages of the world the ministers of the gospel 
have been the real leaders of every people, and they are 
none the less potential in their leadership today. They 
are the ones through whom God has revealed all mys- 
teries and all prophecies,, and likewise the ways of salvation and 
eternal life. Since the earliest days of creation they have been the 
chosen medium of communication between God and man, and in their 
exalted sphere they are the most powerful instrument for the wel- 
fare, progress and happiness of the human race. The position of 
the colored minister of the gospel is as unique as it is responsible, 
for he fills nearly every worthy relationship to his people. He 
is preacher, teacher, adviser, confidential friend and father to his 
people, and he is respected, loved and honored by them as arc no 
other leaders of the people. 

One of the best known, most influential and ablest ministers of 
the gospel in the State of Arkansas, if not in the entire South, is 
Rev. J. P. Robinson, pastor of the First Baptist Church. Little 
Rock. Arkansas. He is a safe and sagacious leader, a great preacher 
and one of the most serviceable men in the ranks of the race. 

His Birthplace. 

The reverend subject of this sketch was born on a farm near 
Hernando. DeSoto County. .Miss. The exact date of his birth is 
more a matter of conjecture than of absolute knowledge, and in the 
absence of authentic information, no definite date can be given. 
The doctor, however, has reason to believe that he was born the 
latter part of the decade of the 50's. 

His Farly Education. 

The subject was a typical country boy. and had only the most 
primitive educational advantages in the days of his youth. He 
remained on the farm until he was twenty-five years of age. and 
his daily routine of work had more to do with hard manual labor 
than with books and things of an intellectual character. He first 
attended the rural schools of his county at go-as-go-can times, and 
he also attended night school at short and irregular times. He was 
anxious to learn, and for this reason hi- availed himself of every 
opportunity to strengthen his mental powers. He was always 



17', 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




DR. I. P. ROBINS IN 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 177 

studious and determined to master his hooks, and notwithstanding 
the fact that his attendance at school was often restricted to a 
period of two or three weeks at a time, his progress in his studies 
was marvelous in comparison with that of many others with tar 
better opportunities. 

Settled in Arkansas in 1881. 

In the year of 1881, thousands of people emigrated from Ten- 
nessee, Mississippi, Alabama and other Southern States to the State 
of Arkansas, where vast acres of government land were being 
thrown open to settlement at a mere nominal cost to those who were 
willing to comply with the requirements of the government. The 
subject of this sketch had read glowing accounts of the possibilities 
of the new country, and therefore he decided to quit his native 
habitat and cast his lot for weal or woe with the new country of 
such wonderful possibilities. On the 4th of February, 1881, the 
subject quit his Mississippi home, emigrated to the State of Arkan- 
sas, and settled near Alexander. 

A Schoolmaster in Arkansas. 

His diligent application to his books while a poor, struggling 
youth in the State of Mississippi began to bring its reward when 
he first settled in the State of Arkansas, for he began at once that 
career of service which has made him so potential in the progress 
of the race. In the year of 1881 he successfully passed the exam- 
ination for a position as teacher in the public schools of Pulaski 
County, Arkansas, and he taught school for at least six months in 
every year until he was called to the pastorate of the First Baptist 
Church at Little Rock, Ark. He taught for six or seven years in 
the common schools of his adopted State, and did in them an effec- 
tive work for the advancement and uplift of his race. 

Serving in the Ministry. 

The experience of the subject has been unique in the annals of 
the ministry, for he enjoys the distinction of never having formally 
been licensed to preach the gospel. The worthy doctor is an 
unusual man, and is not amenable to the laws of ordinary pro- 
cedure, as are the generality of men. On the kindly motion of one 
of the fellow members of his church, the church voted its permis- 
sion for him to preach tin Word, and he has been proclaiming the 
Word ever since. Well does he recollect his first effort in the 
gospel ministry. He does not dignify his first humble exhortation 
with the name of a sermon, but he did his best, as he has ever striven 



BEA( "A LIGHTS OF THE RA( E 

to do since that memorable occasion. His first sermon was deliv- 
ered in a log cabin at a prayer meeting on Saturday night, and his 
maiden discourse was the text that every man in the world must 
will consider, "You must In- horn again." After In- had lived in the 
State of Arkansas tor three years, and had developed both men- 
tally and spiritually, he was ordained to tin ministry in the year 
of 1884. 

Elected Pastoh of First Baptist Church in 1887. 

While teaching school in Pulaski County, the subject received a 
letter from the board of deacons of the First Baptist Church. Little 
Rock, Ark., asking him if he would come and fill their pulpit for a 
while. Looking upon this invitation as a divine opportunity for 
service, he accepted their kind imitation and began his duties as 
trial pastor in the month of October, 1886. After he had served the 
church for three months it was evident to the deacon board and 
membership that they had received the services of a highly capable 
and worthy Christian gentleman, and they decided that the needs 
of the church made it imperative tor them to call the subject to the 
pastorate of the church, which they heartily did in the month of 
January, 1887- 

When he took charge of the First Baptist Church in the year 
of 1887 the church was heavily encumbered with debt. There were 
about three hundred members, among whom there were only a tew 
young people. Under his long and successful pastorate the mem- 
bership of the church has increased by leaps and bounds, until it 
has reached the vast Dumber of 1,800 souls. Instead of groaning 
under the yoke of a heavy debt, the membership has a church that 
is valued at $75,000, and which is easily one of the handsomest 
church edifices in the South. It lias, perhaps, the largest Sunday 
School in the South. Kin pupils and 32 teachers. 

One of the refreshing evidences of the effective character of Dr. 

Robinson's work as pastor of his church is the great number of 
intelligent and aggressive young people that affiliate with his 
church. Their name is legion, and there is hardly a church of any 
denomination in this whole country that can boast of a larger and a 
more intelligent membership of young people. 

As \ .Minister. 
As a ininist< r. Dr. Robinson is one of the ablest and one of the 

most popular in the country, and there is nothing needed to demon- 
strate the truth of this statement more effectively than the member- 
ship of his church. Wherever there can be found such overwhelm- 
ing numbers constituting the membership of a church, there is 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE L79 

undoubted evidence of great power in the leader. The fact is, 
Dr. Robinson is one of the born and divinely commissioned Leaders 

of the Negro race. He knows both the weakness and the strong 
points of the race, and lie is able to take advantage of every oppor- 
tunity to put its members in the direction of progress, prosperity and 
happiness. He is a sort of spiritual philosopher in the leadership 
of his people, and is able to do with his congregation what few other 
ministers can do. He enjoys the confidence and devotion of his 
members to a remarkable degree, and he has faithfully endeavored 
to prove himself worthy of their appreciation and confidence. He 
has exhorted them along the lines that will best promote their inter- 
est as a race, and his exhortation has been an incentive to his people 
to buy homes, patronize each other in business life, respect them- 
selves and their families, educate their children, be law-abiding 
citizens, be truly religious, and inherit the whole earth and the 
fullness thereof. 

As a Speaker. 

That man or woman is indeed fortunate that ever hears the doctor 
in one of his inimitable discourses. It is confidently contended by 
some that there are no two objects in the universe just alike. What- 
ever degree of truth there may be in this statement, the writer feels 
confident in his position that there is not another character in the 
known world just like Dr. Robinson. In the first place, he thor- 
oughly knows himself. He knows how he himself looks, how he 
himself walks and talks. He has the unique perspicacity to see 
himself as others see him. which is indeed a rare virtue in any 
human being. He knows himself, and because of this fact, if for 
no other, he is indeed a wise man. He is naturally a witty man. 
and can convulse at will any congregation of his race. His inimi- 
table wit and facetious remarks can not be heard from any other 
source except from himself. His discourses furnish food for the 
mind, body and soul, and can hardly be duplicated in any other 
pulpit in the country. He is a popular preacher and can adapt him- 
self to the mental capacities of all chassis of men. He is full V 
aware of the fact that a congregation of colored people is the hard- 
est proposition to which a minister of the gospel can preach, and 
that the lot of the colored preacher is not beset with roses because of 
this fact. He realizes that there are varying degrees of intelligence 
among the members of his congregation, and that in order to reach 
them all his .style of discourses must be within their comprehension. 
Realizing this fact, he governs himself accordingly. A wise min- 
ister of the gospel must make his appeal to all that are under the 
sound of his voice, and he must do so in language that is intelligible 
to the humblest auditor that honors the minister with his presence. 



18fl /;/:./' OS LIGHTS OF THE /'./' E 

It is not necessary to marvel why the doctor has such an extra- 
ordinary following, especially when the character of the man is 
known." Every member or visitor to his church gets something in 
return for his visit. There is nothing about him that smacks ot 
kid-gloveism, and the illiterate, handkerchief-headed grandmother 
is as cordially welcome to his church as is the self-satisfied coll- g 
professor. 

There are two parts to the discourses of Dr. Robinson. The 

first part is the inimitable, semi serious part which is so characteristic 
of the man. It is mainly in the nature of a heart-to-heart talk with 
his hearers concerning their follies, their weaknesses, their grave 
mistakes. In this part of his discourses he takes off" the mask of 
hypocrisy, which so often conceals the true nature of one member ot 
the race toward the other, .and shows the real man or woman in all 
of his or her God-forsaken hideousness. He inveighs severely 
against all forms of unrighteousness, and constantly exhorts his 
people to remain firm in the faith of the master and keep their feet 
firmly planted on the rock of Eternal Power. 

The second part of his discourses is the part in which he measures 
up to the highest standards of the ministry. His discourses are 
logical, convincing and scholarly. He has easy command of his 
thought, and clothes it in language befitting the theme of his dis- 
course. He is a man of varied experience, and knows the world 
from every angle. He is blessed with a world of common sense and 
good judgment, and in this respect he takes a subordinate position 
t, no one. What nature herself has not done for him. education 
has. for he is one of the intellectual lights of the denomination. II- 
is an effective speaker, with an inexhaustible fund ot' sound philoso- 
phy -and useful information that is invaluable for every man that 
takes a serious view of life. II.- is an orator of the first magnitude, 
and has Long since made his reputation as one of the most capable 
and one of the most effective pulpit orators of his church. 

Official I [onors. 

'I'll, subject of this Sketch is one of the officials in the councils 
of the Baptist denomination. He is Chairman of' the Home Mission 
Hoard of the National Baptist Convention. He his served as Vice- 
President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention lor nearly 
twenty-five years. He is ( hairman of the Board of Trustees ot 

Arkansas Baptist College, and has the honor of' being the Dean of 

Theology in this same worthy institution, lb- is also President ot 
the Baptist Ministers' Conference of' his city. 



BEACOX LIQ HT8 OF Till-: RACE 181 

An Alumnus OF Arkansas Baptist College. 

Reference has already been made to the fact that the subject 
was ever ambitious to store his mind with knowledge, and that his 
educational advantages in the days of his youth were very limited. 
As soon as he had been called to the pastorate of the First Baptist 
Church in the city of Little Rock. Ark., he saw and took advantage 
of the golden opportunity for mental culture which had providen- 
tially been provided for him. In connection with the serious duties 
of pastor of the largest church in the State, the subject found time 
to burn the midnight oil in study for serious preparation for life. 
Many other ministers with such a splendid charge would have been 
perfectly satisfied with their mental equipment for the leadership 
of their people. But the subject took time by the forelock and 
utilized the advantages that were presented to him by the Arkansas 
Baptist College. It was not a bed of roses to minister to his large 
flock and successfully cultivate his mind by study, but he perse- 
vered and in the year of 1899 he won the honor of graduating from 
the collegiate department of that institution of learning with the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

Honorary Degrees. 

In the year of 1909 the degree of Master of Arts was conferred 
upon Dr. Robinson by his alma mater. Arkansas Baptist College. 
In the year of 1902 State University, Louisville. Ky.. conferred 
upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In the year of 1910 
the Bible College of Philadelphia, Pa., conferred upon him the 
honored degree of Doctor of Civil Laws. The last honor, as were 
the others, came to him wholly unsolicited, and from an institution 
that is operated by educators of the opposite race. 

As an Author. 

Not only has the subject of this sketch shown ability of the 
highest order as a pulpit orator and general leader of his people, 
but he has gained a name and fame in the domain of letters, for he 
is the author of a book that is entitled "Sermons and Sermonettes," 
which book has proved to be so popular that it has already circulated 
through its third edition. It is a remarkable seller, and has demon- 
strated that the author is a literary man of no mean ability. 

A Splendid Business Man. 

As a business man and financier the doctor needs no sympathy, 
for he is well able to take care of his interest along that line, just 



182 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

as in all other Lines. He does not think that it comports with the 
dignity of the ministry to be proclaiming from the housetops just 
how much they may he worth in tin- goods of this world, and for 
this reason he spoke of his material accumulations with consider- 
able reluctance. After repeated importunities from the writer, tin 
doctor admitted that he is a substantial taxpayer in four counties 
of the State of Arkansas. The doctor is unquestionably one of the 
shrewdest financiers of the race, and would take deep root in the 
desert of Sahara if he were .a castaway therein. He is as successful 
as a business man as he is as a minister of the gospel, and he has 
never slept on his opportunities to earn an honest dollar. He has 
practiced the very doctrine that he has preached so long to his 
congregation, viz.. that they should look well to the rainy day of life 
and strive to accumulate some of life's material blessings. He 
believes that a man that has been so fortunate as to enjoy the 
blessings of this terrestrial life will be the better qualified to appre- 
ciate the higher and purer life beyond the grave. 

His Estimable and Energetic Wife. 

A trite saying it undoubtedly is that "nothing succeeds like 
success." Among the many great successes in the splendid career of 
the subject of this sketch, there is one that stands out like the 
Sphinx in the desert, and that is his extraordinary success in win- 
ning the hand and heart of Miss Amanda Talley. to whom he wis 
uinted in marriage February J'J. 1893. His wife is a woman of 
splendid intellectual training, and received her education at Spell- 
man Seminary and Roger Williams University. She is a woman 
of versatile accomplishments, and can do several different things 
in a highly creditable manner. In the first place, she is a very 
capable musician, and is considered one of the leading music teach- 
ers of Little Hock. Ark. She is well trained in the principles of 
composition and harmony, and is thus way above the average 
musician who seldom specializes in that department of the so-called 
"divine art." 

Mrs. Robinson is said to he the most expert specialist of the hair. 
skin and the female figure in the State of Arkansas. She is in 
possession of souk of the greatest secrets of her profession, and 
her Various preparations for the improvement of the skin, hair and 
figure divine of the female sex has gained more than mere local 
celebrity. Sin manufactures some of the most effective hair dress 

ings. face lotions and skin preparations that can be found in the 

market. Her remedies are standard preparations of known merit 
and their efficacy lor the purpose for which they are used is 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 183 

matter of grateful knowledge to hundreds of worthy and veracious 
people, who are glad to testify to their superior merit. 

She is a shrewd business woman, and is nearly incomparable as I 
financier. She is not one of those parlor queens that dawdle about 
with nothing to do but eat and sleep, but she is a wide-awake woman, 
with a mind that is ambitious to win, not only fame, but the tangible 
rewards that emanate from it. She is a marvelous woman in the 
arena of business life, and a shining example of what a talented 
woman of the race can do if she will but make the most of her 
opportunities. 

A Leader of the People. 

Dr. Robinson is a conservative man, as well as an experienced 
man. He is trained in the art of diplomacy, or he never could have 
won the unfaltering support of his vast congregation for all of 
these many years. He is one of the safest of race leaders, and his 
candid opinion on any proposition is worthy of careful consideration. 
A man that has been successful enough to merit the commendation 
of progressive men. both in his own race and in other races, to the 
extent that the subject has, is certainly in possession of some of the 
elements that commend him for leadership of the race. He is a man 
of affairs and substantial means, and he is as highly respected as 
any other minister in the St.de. By the sheer force of his personality 
he has carved a name high on the eternal rock of fame, and coming 
generations will be proud to honor and revere his name. 



184 



/;/;./' OX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




DR. T. O. FULL] R 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 185 

T. 0. Fuller, A.M., Ph.D., D.D., Memphis, Tenn. 

Pastor of the First Baptist Church and Principal of Howe 

Institute. 




N THE history of the Negro race in America it has hap- 
pened that many of the most distinguished and most 
eminent leaders of the race have been of mixed blood. 
This condition of admixture was largely due to the de- 
grading influences of slavery, to which the race was subjected for 
two and one-half centuries, not mentioning those unfortunate social 
conditions that result from the voluntary action of responsible men 
and women, in full possession of their faculties and under no 
restraint except that which the dictates of reason and conscience 
impose upon them. It is the custom and pleasure of the dominant 
race, when considering the career of a Negro of mixed lineage, 
to ascribe any unusual mental or moral endowment in him to the 
presence of the Anglo-Saxon strain in his blood. Now, it can 
easily be shown that, of all the various bloods of the human race, the 
blood of the Negro is the most powerful and the most far-reaching 
in its effects, for the millionth part of a molecule of such blood is 
powerful enough to transform the whitest being in the world into a 
Negro. This being the case, it seems out of harmony with the facts 
in this case to give a less powerful strain of blood more credit for 
human excellence than the blood which scientifically is admitted to 
be strong enough in a single drop to metamorphose any human 
being under heaven's canopy into a Negro. This is the sketch 
of a man of extraordinary intellectual and moral endowment. He 
is one of the most gifted men of the nation, irrespective of race, 
and notwithstanding this fact, it can not be shown by the most rigid 
microscopical and chemical analysis that he has in his veins a single 
Caucasian germ. He is a member of the royal house of the race, 
and the Negro race is entitled to full credit for his great talents and 
extraordinary ability. 

His Birthplace and Parents. 

The subject of this sketch is a native son of the State of North 
Carolina, and was born in Franklinton. Franklin County, October 
25, 1867. He was born at an auspicious time and amidst an ideal 
environment for the development of character and worthy man- 
hood, for the race had just emerged from the depths of slavery into 



186 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

the glorious sunlight of freedom, and the whole foundation struc- 
ture of the race's future in this country had to he laid. His par- 
ents had worn the badge of servitude, and thev knew what it was 
to struggle and endure. They were people of the old school, and 

had in their characters many of the transcendent virtues that have 
helped to transform this country from a virgin wilderness into this 
present seat of civilization and power. His father. Mr. J. Hender- 
son Fuller, was an oldtime carpenter, and In- bad such an abiding 
love for his dear wife and children that he labored hard to earn the 
money with which he hired the time of his wife from her master, in 
order that he might have the pleasure of her company and the benefit 
of her wise counsel at all times in the rearing of the children whom 
benign Providence had committeed to their care. This love of fam- 
ily and of home is the foundation upon which the superstructure of 
a race must be built, and it is one of the sublime virtues that have 
made the Anglo-Saxon race the leading race in the conquest and civi- 
lization of the world. The mother of Dr. Fuller, Mrs. Mary Eliza 
Fuller, was a woman of saintly character, and lived for but two 
things, the welfare of her husband and the happiness of her chil- 
dren. Neither was rich in the intellectual stores of this life, but 
both were rich in love and devotion to their children and in their 
prayerful desire to rear their children to live lives of usefulness 
and honor to their race, to their country, and to their Maker. They 
were noted for their fecundity, and gave to the cause of their coun- 
try fourteen children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the 
youngest. Ten of their children are still living, and in their 
respective spheres are living lives that are creditable alike to them- 
selves and the sacred memory of their devoted and loving parents. 

His School Liff and Splendid Education. 

The school life of the subject began when he was a mere tot of 
five years. His parents, though they had been slaves, had an 
instinctive idea of tin- value and importance of education, and they 
gave to all of their children the advantages of all the training that 
the circumstances of tin- parents would permit. The fundamental 
training of the subject began in a private school, and in that sehool 
hallowed with th.- sweetest and fondest memories of his youthful 

days, he successfully ran the gauntlet of all of the ohltime terrors 

in Webster's Blue Hack Speller, McGufFy's Readers and the trouble- 
some and mysterious ciphering in the mathematical series of Kay. 
Robinson and other famous authors. The year of 1882 was made 
memorable in his school lit', by his matriculation at the State Normal 
School, which had been located in l'ranklinton. his home town. 
Judging by the splendid reputation of some of the teachers of that 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 187 

institution. .Hid by their subsequent career of eminence, the State 
Normal School at Franklinton must have been a highly creditable 
institution of Learning. However, it is a matter of record that the 
training of the subject in that school was so thorough in character 
that in the year of 188"), on the occasion of his matriculation from 
Shaw University, Raleigh. X. C, he was able to make the second 
year college preparatory class. 

Dr. Fuller's education was not handed to him on a silver platter. 
He had to work and struggle for it, and this fact accounts in a 
great measure for the splendid use that he has made of his educa- 
tional opportunities. 1 1 is parents were ever constant in their 
affection and loyalty to his interests, hut their humble circumstances 
were not sufficient to provide the thousand and one needs that were 
incident to college life. There was something in the manliness and 
ambition of the subject which favorably impressed the officials of 
the university, and they gave him an opportunity to work in part 
payment of his way. From the humble duties of master of tin- 
sweeping brush he was, because of his faithful and efficient services, 
promoted to the comparatively dignified position of keeper-in-charge 
of the reading room, where his hungry and ambitious mind could 
feast and revel upon the choicest literature of the ages. His pro- 
motion to the reading room was one of the most fortunate and one 
of the most agreeable incidents of his college career, for it gave 
him unlimited access to many of the leading papers, journals, maga- 
zines, periodicals and other literary works of the day. and not only 
did he cultivate the habit of systematic reading, but he stored his 
mind with a wealth of information that has been of inestimable value 
to him as a professional worker and public man. 

While a student of Shaw University, he was fortunate in getting 
much of that training and experience that would equip and fortify 
him for the great arena of life. He was president of the dining- 
hall. Secretary of the Sunday School, and President of the lyccum. 
and in that three-fold capacity he received that thorough training 
and discipline that have made him one of the most resourceful and 
one of the ablest public men of the South. The college career of the 
subject came to a close in the month of May. 1890, when he received 
from his alma mater the coveted degree of Bachelor of Arts on the 
occasion of his graduation. Of the forty young men and young 
women that were members of his class in the year of 188."). when 
he first matriculated at the university, he was the only one to receive 
that degree from the university. He had spent eighteen long years 
in preparing for the duties and responsibilities of life, and few 
have been the ones so well equipped for service and usefulness as he 
was when he threw off the mantle of college life ami entered the 
arena of service to his people. 



188 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

His Career is \ Schoolmaster. 

There was method in the unique manner in which the subject 
gained much of his experience in preparation for his successful and 
brilliant career as a schoolmaster. While a student at Shaw Uni- 
versity he did considerable teaching in the schools of his native 
State during his vacations, and served often without compensation. 
Having selected some large and prominent school, he would volun- 
tarily assist the principal of the school for a few weeks, and in this 
unusual way lie not only gained valuable experience, but a great 
reputation for ability as a teacher among the people with whom he 
labored. During his senior year at college he was employed as an 
assistant teacher under commission from the Baptist Home Mission 
Society, and this timely employment at such a crucial period in his 
college career in a measure relieved his straightened financial cir- 
cumstances and contributed greatly to the pleasure of the most 
eventful day in his experience at the university, the day of his 
graduation. 

The professional career of the subject as a schoolmaster began 
in the public schools of Granville County, North Carolina. In the 
very first school that he taught he succeeded in making an indelible 
impression upon the mind of the County Superintendent by showing 
to that official's satisfaction that the young teacher had the ability 
to do things whatsoever the emergency might be. He gave to the 
Superintendent a practical demonstration of the value of industrial 
education by taking the initiative in building a chimney for the 
schoolhouse in order to expedite the opening of the school on the 
following Monday morning. This unusual feat merited from the 
Superintendent the increase in salary that the subject had asked for, 
but which the Superintendent at first had been unwilling to con- 
cede to him. The Superintendent was quick to perceive the fact 
that he had employed a teacher whose value to the community could 
not be lightly regarded, and that it was to tlie welfare of the com- 
munity that tin- valuable services of such a teacher should be more 
substantially rewarded. 

In the year of 1 S J ) -J he founded the Girls' Training School at 
Franklinton, N. ('. The school was under the auspices of the Bap- 
tists of that city, who had called the subject to that city with the 
purpose of organizing such a school in view. In the course of two 
years commodious buildings were erected tor the school and it 
flourished. Having BUCCessfully organized the school, he resigned 
the principalship of the school to a worthy successor and accepted 
the principalship of Shilob Institute at Warrenton, N. C. This 
school was under the auspices of the Shiloh Association of Baptist 
Churches, and gave promise of great service in the advancement and 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 189 

uplift of the race. In the year of 1| !K>0, in obedience to the impor- 
tunities of many of his friends, who were well acquainted with his 
superior ability as a schoolmaster, the subject opened up a private 
academy at Warren Plains, N. C. His tenure of service in that 
town was not of long duration, but he succeeded in waking up that 
community as it had never been awakened before. 

From Warren Plains to Memphis, Tenn. 

The town of Warren Plains, X. C, is closely related to the city 
of Memphis, Tenn., for it was while the subject was serving his 
people in that little town that, through the kindly interest of his 
personal friend, he was called to the pastorate of the First Baptist 
Church of Memphis, Tennessee. Upon his arrival in the city of 
Memphis to serve in the pastorate, he was pressed into service by 
the Principal of Howe Institute, Professor J. Levister, to teach 
civil government and theology at the same school. The subject 
entered upon the incidental work of the class room with that char- 
acteristic energy and enthusiasm for which he has always been 
noted. He brought into evidence that skillful technical training 
resulting from a thorough college education, that facility of execu- 
tion, that clearness of exposition, that brilliant rhetorical display, 
and that astonishing erudition which simply overwhelmed and swept 
everything before them. These extraordinary gifts, shown in clear- 
ing up mysterious and difficult questions in the ministers' classes 
in theology, in the elucidation of the lessons in the Sunday School, 
and in his eloquent and able discourses in the pulpit, were the means 
of focusing on him the attention and admiration of the public to a 
greater extent than had been the case with any other newcomer to 
the city. 

In the year of 1902 Principal Levister accepted a call to serve on 
the faculty of Shaw University, his alma mater. Professor Levis- 
ter's acceptance of the position that was tendered him left a vacancy 
in the principalship of Howe Institute. This was indeed an unfor- 
tunate condition for the school, and the trustees of that institution 
were confronted with the serious proposition of wisely selecting his 
successor. The times were critical, and the trustees were anxious 
to make the wisest possible choice for the principalship that was 
made vacant. After deliberating for some time as to whom tin- 
trustees should select for the place, the thought came to Rev. T. J. 
Searcy, one of the pioneer, loyal and faithful adherents of the 
school, that Ur. T. (). fuller would be just the man to fill the 
vacancy. Now, Rev. T. J. Searcy has always been a very quick- 
witted, far-seeing man, and can go from Dan to Beersheba on a 
proposition before the average man has even scratched his head in 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 191 

order to think. So Rev. T. J. Scarry asked Dr. Fuller why the 

doctor should not take the principalship of Howe Institute. The 
question was a surprise to Dr. Fuller, who had come to the city of 
Memphis for the sole purpose of serving in a pastorate capacity. 
But the doctor is not a man to dodge and run from responsibility. 
He was educated for service, and it is only when he is serving his 
people to his fullest ability that he feels that his life is what he 
would like for it to he. In the course of a short time the wisdom 
of selecting Dr. Fuller became apparent to all the trustees, and they 
unanimously elected him principal of Howe Institute to succeed 
Professor J. Levister in the year of 1902. 

As Principal ok Howe Institute. 

In every great crusade there is a turning point. In every con- 
test involving the welfare of humanity and the success of the human 
race there is always a turning point. American history expresses 
the opinion that the turning point in the great war between the States 
of America in the fratricidal war of the 60's was the battle of 
Gettysburg. In like manner the election of Dr. Fuller to the prin- 
cipalship of Howe Institute was the great turning point in the life 
of that splendid school of the Baptist denomination in the State of 
Tennessee. Notwithstanding the splendid scholarship and deter- 
mined efforts of Professor J. Levister in the principalship of Howe 
Institute, the school seemed to have fallen upon evil days. It was 
staggering under a great debt; its buildings were in a state of dilapi- 
dation. The "ghost" seldom walked among the teachers, cither 
by night or by day. The peculiar conditions governing the found- 
ing of the school by its pioneers and benefactors were a heavy 
handicap to the progress of the school. The restrictions governing 
its management had alienated many of the best and most loyal mem- 
bers of the denomination, and instead of having the active and 
militant co-operation of the hosts of the denomination, there were 
strife and division. Dr. Fuller's taking hold of the reins of author- 
ity at that crucial time in the history of the school was the beginning 
of better days for the school. He was not a novice in school super- 
vision and school management, for he had founded two or more 
similar institutions in his native Slate, and he came to the principal- 
ship of Howe with the prestige of success already achieved in a 
similar official capacity. He had had long experience in public 
life, and he was well acquainted with the methods to pursue with 
men or measures in order to get the lust results for the cause for 
which he was working. His tact, diplomacy, common sense and 
general endowment by nature had full opportunity for display in 
solving the conditions that confronted his administration. 



V)2 



liKAfOX LI'iHTS or THE RACE 



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BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 193 

His first great task was to gain peace and clearly establish the 
relationship of Howe Institute to the Baptists of the State of Ten- 
nessee. After laboring before the various Baptist conventions of 
the State for two years, his statement of the Howe Institute side of 
the controversy was so clear and so forcible that all parties were 
convinced and the angel of peace again hovered over the delibera- 
tions of that august body. The rights of Howe Institute were con- 
ceded and the institution came into its just inheritance from the 
loyal Baptists of the State of Tennessee. In securing this much-to- 
be-desired peace, Dr. Fuller played the role of pacificator as effec- 
tively as did Henry Clay, the great pacificator of ante-bellum times, 
for he brought into a cohesive mass a lot of disgruntled and inhar- 
monious elements that had been at variance for a long time. 

What He Has Accomplished at Howe Institute. 

The doctor reorganized the entire faculty of Howe Institute and 
changed its business methods. Instead of the teachers' salaries 
being dependent upon the receipts from tuition from the students, 
which had always been done before the new order of things under 
Dr. Fuller, the new principal made efforts to secure the salaries of 
the teachers of the school through appropriations and gifts. He 
succeeded in rallying to the support of the school the entire Baptist 
constituency of the State of Tennessee, as far as such an effort was 
in the range of human possibility. The various churches, clubs, 
societies and individuals came to "the rescue of the school and put 
it on a substantial working basis. The efforts of Dr. Fuller had 
been not only to enlist the careful co-operation of his own people, 
but to seek the financial assistance of the great Baptist Home Mis- 
sion Board, which has done such wonderful things for the colored 
people of this Southland. It is the wish of the Baptist Home Mis- 
sion Board to encourage and assist those who are worthy of assist- 
ance and who are striving to do something. The spirit of the age 
is not to encourage mendicancy and abject dependence, but to help 
a man to help himself. The vigorous manner in which Dr. Fuller 
took hold of the affairs of Howe Institute convinced the educa- 
tional powers that he was the right man in the right place, and 
that with proper encouragement the school would be made a bless- 
ing to the cause of human progress, instead of a ruthless waste of 
the hard-earned money of consecrated men and women, who had 
contributed it for the best purpose to which it could be put. 

Through the activity, influence and hard work of the doctor, the 
sum of $25,000 in cash has been secured from Northern friends and 
the colored Baptists of Tennessee. The school, which was valued at 
$20,000 at the time of Dr. Fuller's election to the principalship. is 



194) BEACO.y LH;11I< OF THE RACE 

now valued at over $60,000, and it is doubtful if the trustees of the 
school would Im willing to dispose of it for a sura of money greatly 
in excess of that sum. The school plant in the course of a few 
years will easily be worth one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). 
Daring his administration the campus has been increased to about 
twice its original size, and thereon have been erected a teachers' 
cottage and a commodious and substantial girls' dormitory and 
Science Hall. The Clara Howe Building is a large three-story 
building of brick and concrete. Various departments have been 
added to the school until its facilities compare favorably with any 
institution of similar grade in the South. The collections of the 
school from all sources have been more than doubled during the 
incumbency of the present principal. Since the appointment of 
Miss Lula B. Greeidaw in 1 <)(>.") to the position of bookkeeper of 
the school, the collections have increased from $1,200 to $2,500 per 
annum. The curriculum of the school has been so enlarged and 
strengthened that its graduates are able to make a very creditable 
entrance to the colleges and universities of the country. A highly 
capable instructor is employed in the industrial department of the 
school, and the work of the students in that department is being 
brought up to a high degree of efficiency. 

Sparks From the Anvil of His Career in the Ministry. 

Dr. T. O. Fuller is a many-sided man. and has successfully 
acquitted himself in every capacity in which he has served. He 
was prudent and wise as a legislator in his native State; he has a 
qualification of the highest order in the school room; he is the 
personification of shrewdness in business and financial matters. 
But all of these qualifications have been mere incidents in his long 
and successful career as a public man. The real life work of the 
doctor, and the one in which lit is interested far beyond all others, 
is thai of the gospel ministry. He has been actively engaged in 
the ministry since the year of 1886, and thus soon will have rounded 
out a quarter of a century in continuous and efficient service for the 
Master. In the year of 1890 he was ordained in the work of the 
gospel ministry, and his first pastorate was the Helton (nek Church, 
tour miles south of Oxford. N. ('. The congregation at first con- 
sisted of tour members, and their place of worship was in a log hut 
which was also us. d for school purposes. Through his marvelous 

efforts and spiritual power, this humble church, in the course of 
two years, grew from tour members to one hundred and fifty mem- 
bers. So wonderful was his work in his first church, and such a 
great reputation did he gain in a short time as an eloquent and 
effective minister of the gospel, that he received calls to the pas- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 195 

toratc of eleven different churches in the course of a single yeur. 
In the fullness of time and the maturity of his experience, he 
accepted some of the charges that were offered him, and he experi- 
enced in every instance the blessings of ministerial success for 
which he had hoped and prayed. 

Mis Ministerial Honors in North Carolina. 

While serving as a minister in the Old North State, he was the 
worthy recipient of many honors from the Baptists of his native 
State." He was Vice Moderator of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist 
Association. He was elected Recording Secretary of the North 
Carolina State Sunday School Convention, but for reasons which he 
considered satisfactory lie finally decided not to accept the great 
honor. His ability and success as a minister were highly appreciated 
by the Baptists of the State, and some of the best charges in the 
State were at his pleasure to accept. 

He Cast His Lot in the City of Memphis, Tenn. 

Dr. Fuller went to the city of Memphis in the month of August, 
1900, to visit the charge to which he had been recommended by Dr. 
S. N. Vass. His visit was satisfactory, and he decided to locate 
permanently in the city on the banks of the mighty Father of Waters. 
With this object in view he returned to his home in North Carolina, 
adjusted all of his affairs and moved to the city of Memphis in the 
month of November, 1900, to take charge of the pastorate of the 
First Baptist Church of that city. His coming to the city of Mem- 
phis was the signal for a general revival along all lines, educational, 
religious and material. He proved to be a wise and far-sighted 
leader for his people, and they have never ceased to congratulate 
themselves for having as their pastor and leader one of the most 
gifted Baptist preachers in America. Under his leadership a new 
and beautiful place of worship has been built, the membership 
greatly increased, the working organizations of the church multi- 
plied, the obligations of the congregation met in a business-like 
manner, and a general improvement all along the line. The doctor 
has one of the most loyal congregations in the country, and he has 
wisely steered clear of those unfortunate wrangles .and church feuds 
that are so prevalent in churches of all denominations, and which 
cause never-ending embarrassment and everlasting harm, not only 
to the cause of religion, but to good morals and good fellowship in 
the community. The First Baptist Church has risen to the proud 
position of one of the leading churches in the city of Memphis. 
The combined influence of the school, with which the church is in 



196 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

hearty affiliation, and the doctor's own magnetic personality, have 
helped to make the congregation of* the First Baptist Church one 
of the most intelligent and one of the most progressive in the State 
of Tennessee. The pioneers of that church dared to cut loose from 
hide-hound tradition and blaze a new path along the line their 
intelligence and religious belief led them. All honor is due the 
faithful few who, like the Pilgrim Fathers of olden times, braved 
every adversity for the sake of their religious opinions. 

His Political Career. 

The political experience of the doctor, and the consequent national 
renown he gained therefrom, were not the result of any cherished 
political aspirations on his part. It was while he was laboring in 
^Yarrenton that the opportunity came which made him the avail- 
able candidate of the Republican party for a seat in the Senate of 
the State of North Carolina. It happened that his county was one 
of the banner Republican counties of the State from the standpoint 
of the colored voter, and had always sent its party representative to 
the State legislature. In the year of 1898 a vacancy occurred in 
the senatorial nomination, caused by the resignation of the white 
candidate, who had accepted another nomination at the hands of the 
party. The great ability of Dr. Fuller commended him to the rank 
and file of the powerful Republican constituency, and he was ten- 
dered the Republican nomination for the Senate. Of course, he had 
not gone to that section of the State to follow a political career, but 
to perforin faithfully his duties as principal of the school and 
pastor of the church in that place. His natural inclination was to 
decline the proffered nomination for the sake of his duties to the 
people, whom he had gone to Warrenton to serve. He was given 
the assurance that he would not be expected to make a political 
canvass for the office, because the overwhelming Republican eon 
Stituency made such a canvass unnecessary; but the exigencies of 
the political situation, owing to the multiplicity of ambitious can- 
didates and the various kaleidoscopic "regularities" and "irregu- 
larities" that were incident to the campaign, made it necessary for 
the doctor to take more than a mere casual or perfunctory interest 
in his own candidacy. He did make some political speeches in the 
turbulent campaign, and his wise utterances, tactful diplomacy and 
evident sincerity of purpose clarified the situation, poured oil on 
the troubled political waters and caused all of the bickerings to 
Cease. He was triumphantly elected to the Senate of North Caro- 
lina, and thus in one leap he went from the position of a private 
Citizen to the exalted station of a member of the Senate of the 
St.ate of North Carolina. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 197 

In the Senate of North Carolina. 

The 1th of January 1899 was the eventful day for the convening 
of the legislature to which he had been elected. It was generally 
known throughout the State that a Negro legislator had been elected 
to a seat in the Senate of North Carolina, and there was much 
curiosity on the part of the white people to see the Negro who was 
playing such a conspicuous part in the political life of the Old 
North State. Therefore, it was no great wonder that he was the 
observed of all the members, the cynosure of all eyes. The record 
of Senator Fuller in the legislature of North Carolina would have 
been a credit to the proudest Caucasian in the State. There was 
some little degree of embarrassment due to his unique political 
status, but he met the conditions with so much tact, diplomacy and 
magnanimity that his course not only excited the admiration of 
many of his legislative colleagues, but made for him among them 
many dear friends for life. Since it was the good fortune of the 
race to be represented in the Senate of the Old North State, it 
was well that the race had as its representative one of the best 
educated, one of the most brilliant and one of the ablest men of the 
race. Whatever may have been the natural prejudices of the white 
race toward the opposite race, it was indeed fortunate that the race 
had such a worthy representative in the halls of legislation, not 
only to look after the interests of the colored race, but to show to 
the world the brightest side of Negro character, Negro ability and 
Negro manhood. While comparisons are generally considered to 
be odious, yet it was no disparagement to the brilliant and able 
colored senator to have compared him in every necessary qualifica- 
tion with almost any other member of that august legislative body 
of able men and statesmen. Blessed with an unsual endowment by 
nature, a graduate of one of the leading universities of the South, 
gifted in all the graces of moral and intellectual power, he was 
easily one of the foremost members of the North Carolina Senate. 
His gifted oratory was a revelation to the Senate, and in an assem- 
bly of eloquent and able men, he was one of the most eloquent and 
one of the ablest. It was an era in the deliberations of the Senate 
when the Senator from Warren County received the recognition 
of the presiding officer of that chamber. His extraordinary elo- 
quence was not wasted, for it was made effective in several legis- 
lative measures of importance bearing on the welfare of the race. 

His Legislative Effort for His Race. 

He secured the passage of the following bills affecting the writ art 
of his race in the State of North Carolina: 

1. Through his untiring efforts, the hill for the reduction of the 



I »8 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

State normal schools tor colored people from seven to four in num- 
ber was defeated and the seven luminaries of learning were saved 
in their entirety to the race. The State of North Carolina has a 
most .admirable system of normal schools for the education of col- 
ored youth, and the fact that the State has not lost its pre-eminence 
in this respect was due to the Legislative sagacity of Senator T. O. 
Fuller of Warren County. 

2. He drafted and secured the passage of a bill giving the 
Superior Court of his county concurrent jurisdiction (criminal 
jurisdiction) in .all criminal cases. As the Criminal Court itself 
held its sessions only once in six months, the criminal jurisdiction 
of the Superior Court made it possible for the county prison to be 
cleared of its inmates every three months, and thus save much 
expense on the part of the citizens of the county. 

.'5. Through his timely influence the Warren County Dispensary 
Bill was passed^ abolishing the open barroom and substituting for it 
the Dispensary Bill, which allowed no public drinking in the usual 
places and permitted the sale of liquor in packages only. This 
legislation was a great triumph for common decency and public- 
morality, for it largely eliminated the persistent and shameless 
inebriate from public observation and removed from public sight 
the temptation which is the degradation and ruination of the youth 
and manhood of the race. 

1. He was instrumental in the passage of the bill that incor- 
porated the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, 
whose home office is at Durham, North Carolina. This insurance 
company of the Negro race is one of the largest and one of the 
strongest of its kind in the United States of America, and its great 
success has demonstrated the administrative capacity and financial 
shrewdness of the race. 

As a legislator he had ever in mind the welfare of his consitu- 
encv and the honor of the Negro race. He did his work well, and 
he is entitled to the lasting appreciation and regard of the members 
of his race. He had the unique honor of being called "The Last 
Negro Member of the Senate of North Carolina," which is only 
too true up to this present time, but who can turn back the veil 
of the future and tell exactly what it has in store for the American 
Negro in the political arena? Great political honors have been 
conferred upon the Negro in the past, and no one is so wise that 
he can say with absolute assurance that the Negro will not be a fac- 
tor in the political life of the nation in the future, as he has been 

in the past. History has a strange way of repeating itself, and Un- 
political pendulum does not always swing in the same direction in 
any part of this free and united republic. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 199 

His Pre-Eminence as an Orator. 

Among the many powers of the doctor, which cause him to shine 

as a star of the first magnitude among his people, is his wonderful 
gift of oratory. In this department of human excellence he is 
second to few, if any, men in the republic, irrespective of race. As 
a pulpit orator he is one of the marvels of the times. With due 
respect to some of the mighty doctors of divinity who are heralded 
far and wide as the greatest preachers of the Baptist denomination, 
the writer begs leave to enroll the name of Dr. Fuller among those 
immortals. The writer has had the pleasure of listening to the 
special efforts of some of the greatest preachers of the Baptist 
denomination, and he has not, to this time, seen one of them come 
before his audience better prepared for the mastery of his subject, 
endowed with more real eloquence, and seemingly blessed with 
greater ability. The doctor has an extraordinary vocabulary, and 
the choicest and most elegant words marshal themselves in vocal 
battalions to do his bidding. The fact is, his display of expressive 
and accurate words borders on the marvelous. His eloquence has 
a readiness and spontaneity that are seldom seen in the public 
speakers of the present day. As an orator on a great demonstrative 
occasion he can literally soar into the empyrean. Whatever the 
occasion may be, his oratorical efforts are never a disappointment. 
He is a man of such ripe scholarship and such great natural endow- 
ment that he can always measure up to any reasonable expectation. 
He is not only an orator, but he is a profound thinker and reasoner. 
There is a poetic strain in his character, and that to a great extent 
accounts for the beauty and chasteness of his diction. The poetic 
strain gives him an unconscious tendency to the use of metaphorical 
language, and in the excitement of his discourse he rivals the rhe- 
torical florescence of the late Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, the prince of 
rhetoricians and orators, but the resemblance between these two 
gentlemen ceases with their intellectual and moral endowment. 

His Status as a Race Leader. 

The term "race leader" is one that is used so indiscriminately 
that, for the purposes of this book, the writer prefers to use it 
rather advisedly. The mere education and social prominence of a 
man in a community do not confer upon him the powers of leader- 
ship, for in every community of the South there will be found men of 
the highest intellectual attainments who take no active part in the 
struggles of the race to reach higher intellectual and moral ground, 
and who are as impotent in their influence with the masses of their 
people as the man is with the horse that is running away with him. 



200 BEACOJH LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Intelligent leadership of the race must be both wist- and discreet. 
In the Southland, where the warp and woof of the social fabric are 
most complicated, those elements of character arc most essential to 
successful ran Leadership which enable the colored man to lead his 
people without friction in the paths of wisdom, peace, happiness 
and prosperity. Early in his career as a public man Dr. Fuller 
learned from practical experience the advantage of cultivating the 
spirit of good feeling and friendly co-nperation between the two 
races in the South. The common impulses of humanity are funda- 
mental^ the same in all races, ami m.d only careful cultivation in 
order to fructify into an abundant harvest. It was the good for- 
tune of the doctor early in his career as a public man to put into 
execution his ideas governing the relation of the two races in the 
South, and the result was of the most satisfactory character in every 
instance. In his efforts to buy lands and build schools and churches 
for his people in his native State of North Carolina, he was given 
substantial assistance and shown courtesies and kindnesses for which 
lie will ever be grateful. Knowing the good and benefit that cman- 
ate from the cultivation of a friendly spirit toward the dominant 
race of the South, and having been in countless instances the bene- 
riciarv of the kindness of the white race, it is not unreasonable to 
ascribe to the doctor the qualification for the highest and most suc- 
cessful leadership of his race in this Southland. He is noted for 
his sanity and conservatism on all questions affecting the welfare 
of both races. He is not a member of the ancient and honorable 
order of fire-eaters and race frictionists. He does not believe that 
the race question can be justly settled by physical force and vio- 
lence; tor the tribunal of violence and bloodshed has already been 
invoked far too often. He believes in the principles of the Bible 
and the Golden Rule, and that these two great sources of inspiration 
are sufficient to solve all of the race problems on all of the planets 

of the solar system. His prudent, diplomatic and wise Leadership 
has been in evidence in countless instances, looking toward the solu- 
tion of problems affecting the welfare of both races. VI 'ith a heart 
that is absolutely without malice toward a single human being, and 
prayerfully desirous of bringing the two races to a better under- 
standing with each other. Dr. fuller has done a work that is second 
to no other colored man in the South. Since his coming to the city 
• Memphis. .1 perfect stranger in the year of 1900, it is more than 
probable that his manly course and disinterested labors for the 
welfare of his ran- have won for him among the white people of 
the city of Memphis a wider acquaintance and a more grateful 
appreciation than have ever been bestowed upon a colored citizen 
of the city in all of its history. .Mist as his friendly attitude to 
th< dominant race has gained the favor, good will and support of 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 201 

the members of that race, he is strengthened in the belief that a 
similar attitude on the part of the masses of the colored race would 
cement the natural bond of friendship between the two races, largely 
eradicate the venom of prejudice and cause each race to rejoice in 
the friendship and brotherly love of the other race. 

His Literary Honors. 

In the month of May. 1890, on the occasion of his graduation 
from the college department of Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C, he 
>vas the only member of his original class of forty members to be 
awarded the coveted degree of Bachelor of Arts. After his gradu- 
ation he pursued the necessary literary study for three years, where- 
upon his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of 
Arts in the year of 1893. Dr. Fuller is an ambitious man, and he 
has ever been desirous of preparing himself for the highest degree of 
service to his people. He is an untiring student to this day, and his 
laudable efforts to cultivate his mind have made him a willing inves- 
tigator in the domain of science, literature and the arts. In the 
year of 1906, after he had successfully served in the principalship 
of Howe Institute for four years, the A. & M. College of Normal, 
Ala., the institution of learning over whose destiny the lamented 
Professor William H. Council presided for so many years, con- 
ferred upon the subject of this sketch the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy. In the year of 1910, after twenty years of 
efficient and conspicuous service in the gospel ministry, his alma 
mater, without his knowledge at the time, conferred upon him the 
exalted degree of Doctor of Divinty. Thus it is that Dr. T. O. 
Fuller has the prestige of four great degrees, the possession of any- 
one of which would be a great honor to any man. The doctor 
wears his honors with becoming modesty, and from a mere casual 
intercourse with him, one would not judge by any pretensions on 
his part that the doctor is one of the best equipped men of the Negro 
race in the United States of America. 

His Success as a Business Man and Financier. 

Dr. Fuller has every instinct of a successful business man. He 
has the happy faculty of applying practical business methods to 
every enterprise with which he may be connected. His church's 
finances are looked after in a business-like way. and his school is 
conducted along safe and sane business lines. With him business is 
the science of living, and he applies business principles to all mat- 
ters of importance. He is a man of unusual shrewdness in financial 
matters, and if he had elected to pursue a strictly business career 
he would have become one of the modern kings of finance of the 



202 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

race. When a needy student at Shaw University this business 
instinct of his manifested itself by taking advantage of the gastro- 
nomic necessities of his fellow students. He kept twenty-five cents 
invested in cakes to be purchased by students that might become 
hungry between meal times at the university. On this small invest- 
ment he realized enough profit to pay for his own cakes and to 
have a few pennies for other purposes. The doctor has a keen eye 
for a business proposition. He believes in the potency of invest- 
ment and the benefit that must accrue from the use of dollars which 
work by night and by day as willing slaves for their masters. The 
following chapter will give some idea of his activity and promi- 
nece as a business man. 

His Business Connections and Wealth. 

Since locating in the city of Memphis a decade ago. Dr. Fuller 
has become substantially identified with the business and material 
interests of the city. He has not shown himself to be a mere 
visionary and impractical school man. but he has demonstrated the 
fact that he is a first-class educator as well as a first-class business 
man. He is President of the Mount Carmel Cemetery of Memphis. 
Tenn., a company that was organized in the year of 1909 and 
capitalized at $60,000. This cemetery contains twenty-five acres of 
high and rolling ground, and is splendidly located as a "Home for 
the Dead." From the very beginning of its existence the affairs 
of the cemetery have gone along in a quiet, satisfactory, business- 
like manner, and its promoters have had no regret* concerning the 
success of their venture in this instance. In a business of such a 
character it is not necessary to beat torn toms and burn flash fire in 
order to excite tin- attention of the public. The interring of the dead 
is a grave undertaking, and needs no evidence of exultation on the 
part of its business promoters. The doctor is one of the heaviest 
stockholders in the company, and his able business judgment has 
been a large factor in determining the success of the undertaking. 

He is prominently connected in an official way with the Solvent 
Savings Bank & Trust Company, of Memphis. Tenn.. and he is a 
member of the Executive Committee and of the Hoard of Directors 
of the sain.' hank. He is one of the substantial stockholders of that 
institution, and his financial standing contributes much to its busi- 
ness solidity. He is a stockholder in the Standard Life Insurance 
Company of Atlanta, Ga.. one of the prospective great life insur- 
ance companies of the race. He is the owner of twenty shares of 
stock iii the Powhatan /me & Lead Mining Company of the State 
Of Arkansas. This is a big company of wealthy white capitalists, 
and has alluring business prospects for success. His holding of 
stock ill this company is a compliment from some of his white 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 203 

friends and admirers, who gave him the opportunity to make this 
particular investment iii a profitable venture. 

The doctor is one of the largest realty holders of color in the city 
of .Memphis. Since locating in that city he has bought and prac- 
tically paid for nearly sixty pieces of improved and unimproved 
property in that city. He has twenty acres of valuable farm land 
at Terrell, Crittenden County, Arkansas. The value of this farm 
land is enhanced by its proximity to the Frisco Railroad, which 
runs across a part of it. In the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, 
he is the owner of two pieces of real estate of considerable value. 
He is also the owner of a lot in Lincoln Heights, Washington, D. C. 
As a rule, many ministers of the gospel are poor financiers for them- 
selves and their own interests, but this reflection does not apply to 
Dr. Fuller, who is in a class by himself as a financier. In giving an 
estimate of the wealth of Dr. Fuller, the writer desires to state 
that he had access to the doctor's legal and official papers from 
which to make a computation. The doctor is a gentleman of known 
veracity, and his word itself has the stability of a government bond, 
hut in a matter of this character it is often best to fortify one's 
estimate by the looking at the documentary proof. The business- 
like methods of the doctor are shown particularly in his systematic 
manner of classifying and scheduling his various stock investments 
and realty purchases. His efficient private secretary and accom- 
plished stenographer, Miss Lula I. Hobson, carefully scrutinizes 
and tabulates every business document of the doctor, and the same is 
at her serivce in a moment's notice. Judging from the documentry 
data shown to the writer, the wealth of Dr. T. O. Fuller may be 
conservatively estimated at thirty thousand dollars ($30,000). 

Dr. T. O. Fuller as an Author. 

Notwithstanding the busy career of the doctor as a public man. 
he has taken time to contribute his share to the literary excellence 
of the nation. In addition to the numerous pamphlets, brochures and 
booklets of various character that he has written, he is the author 
of one of the most interesting publications of recent years. The 
book is entitled, "Twenty Years in Public Life," and it is an inter- 
esting, fascinating recital of many of the incidents of his experi- 
ence in public life. It is a book that chains one's attention while 
it charms, and it has all of the attractive features of a fascinating 
novel. The doctor's style of writing is highly entertaining, and any 
person will be highly repaid for the effort of reading the doctor's 
most timely and most interesting book. In the course of a few- 
years the doctor will probably publish a volume of sermons and 
public discourses, which ought to he a rich contribution to the litera- 
ture of the race. 



204 



BEACON LIGH1 - OF I III: RAi E 




MKS. ROSA B. FULLER 

The Partner of His Successes and Jots. 

Two conditions have conduced to the extraordinary success ot 

Dr. Fuller as a public man. viz.. his own unusual ability and tin 

untiring devotion and Loyalty of his estimable wife. Mrs. Rosa B. 

Fuller is a native of the State of Tennessee, and has the honor of 

being a graduate of the school of which she is now the worthy pre- 
ceptress. She exemplifies in her daily life many of the nobles! 
qualities of mind and heart for which her sex is noted. She has for 
years contributed her time and talents for the uplift of the young 
men and young women of Howe Institute and the Memphis com- 
munity, and no worker in the vineyard of the Master will be entitled 
• greater reward than this kindly "Angel Mother" of Howe Insti- 
tl 't<'. 'n the possession of such a resourceful, accomplished and 
devoted wife, the worthy doctor would he rich in earthly (roods 
even it he did not have a penny in his possession. The doctor is a 
man that is hh ssi d with a splendid education, a devoted and loving 
and prospects of thi brightest character. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 205 



Charles Banks, Mound Bayou, Miss. 

Cashier of the Bank of Mound Bayou and President of the 
Mississippi Xegro Business League. 




X order to have a progressive race, there must be certain 
fundamental elements in the character of its members. 

The milestones along the road to success are marked with 
the indelible characters which in all the ages of mankind 
have safely guided the militant hosts to a higher and nobler life. 
These milestones are labeled intelligence, moral honor, industry, 
push and thrift, and that man who possesses these elements in his 
character will as inevitably succeed in the struggles of life as the 
night will follow the day. Of the many aggressive and progressive 
native sons of the State of Mississippi who have stamped the impress 
of their character upon the race institutions of their State and hav< 
contributed their time and talents to the progress and uplift of thi 
race along material and other lines, no one is entitled to more credit 
than that human dynamo of business energy, push and brains. Mr. 
Charles Banks, of Mound Bayou. Miss. 

His Birthplace. 

Mr. Banks is one of the scintillating stars in the firmament of 
his native State, and was born in Clarksdale. March 25, 1873. 
Born as he was in the rich delta section of his native State, teeming 
with unlimited possibilities for an intelligent, ambitious man, the 
subject of this sketch had unlimited opportunity to cultivate and 
exercise in his home community those sterling qualities of energy 
and high class capacity for business for which he is noted today. 

His Education. 

The subject of this narrative is a man that is thoroughly equipped 
both by education and experience for the battles of life. His ele- 
mentary education was received in the public schools of his hom< 
community, but his college training was received at Rust University, 
Holly Springs, Miss., one of the leading institutions of learning in 
the Southland. When a student of Rust University he made the 
most of his opportunities to prepare himself for the career of use- 
fulness and success which he is now living. 



2 ■ 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




< 1IAKI.I S HANKS 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 207 

Many Flashlights in His Career as a Business Max. 
A Merchant in Clarksdale. 

Early in life .Mr. Banks elected to pursue a business career. There 
was always something in mercantile or business life that bad a 
fascination for him. The dull, prosaic life on the farm bad virtually 
no attraetioti for him as a life work in comparison with the excite- 
ment and exchange that are incipient to a business career. He has 
always liked the jingle and clink of the dollars of commerce, and 
their sound is as pleasing to his ears as the rhapsody of a Beethoven 
sonata. He entered mercantile life in Clarksdale. Miss., in the year 
of 1889. when a mere boy, and continued in business for fifteen 
years, or until the year of 1903. In the month of November, 1903, 
he retired from the mercantile business in Clarksdale, Miss., moved 
to the town of Mound Bayou and cast his lot for weal or woe with 
the good people of that progressive and unique settlement. 

The Founder of the Bank of Mound Bayou. 

It was due to the initiative, persistence, financial strength and 
popularity of Mr. Banks that the Bank of Mound Bayou was 
organized and put into operation in the year of 1904. The Bank 
of Mound Bayou, located as it is in one of the richest farming sec- 
tions of the delta, and amidst a teeming population of hard-working, 
energetic and thrifty members of the race, is one of the most success- 
ful financial institutions of the race. It does an enormous amount 
of business in the crop harvesting time of the year, and in that 
season of the year the deposits in that bank will run up into the 
thousands of dollars in the course of a single day. The Bank of 
Mound Bayou is capitalized at $25,000, and its officers and directors 
are some of the wealthiest men in the State. The quarterly statement 
of the bank shows that its resources are in excess of one hundred 
thousand dollars ($100,000). 

The Organizer of the Mississippi Negro Business League. 

In the year of 1905, at Greenville, Mississippi, Mr. Banks was 
instrumental in organizing the Mississippi Negro Business League. 
As an honor that was due to him, both as the promoter of the league 
and a man experienced in successful business life, he was elected 
the first President of the State League, and has been honored with 
re-election to that office at each annual meeting of the league since 
its organization. As President of the league, his wise and aggres- 
sive leadership has done much to encourage and stimulate business 
enterprises among the members of the race, not only in the State of 



208 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Mississippi. Imt throughout the Smith. The session of the State 
League was held in the town of Mound Bayou in the summer of 
1910, and was one of the most successful meetings in the history of 
the league. 

Hi- Official Connection With the National Negro Business 

League. 

In the year of 1901, at its annual session in Chicago, 111., Mr. 
Hanks was elected Third Vice-President of the National Negro 
Business League. In the year of 1907 at Topeka, Kansas, he was 
elected First Viee President of the National Negro Business League. 
and lias been honored with re-election to that office at each annual 
session of the league since that time. In the deliberations of that 
distinguished body of successful Negroes there have been but few 
men whose utterances have been listened to with such rapt attention 
and such unconcealed interest as those of Mr. Charles Banks. He 
is a power in the councils of the National League, and a worthy 
representative of the South. 

The Mound Bayou Oil Mill & Manufacturing Company. 

In the vear of 1907 the fertile mind and far-seeing genius of 
Mr. Banks organized the Mound Bayou Oil Mill & Manufacturing 
Company. The erection of the mammoth buildings of the plant 
began in the vear of 1908. So far as obtainable records show, this 
enterprise is the largest manufacturing plant of the race in the 
whole of America. Its erection is not only a compliment to the 
aggressive business ideas of Mr. Banks, but it is a monument to the 

architectural and constructive genius of the Negro race. Everything 

that is connected with the building has been done by Negro brain and 
Negro muscle. The estimated cost of the plant i^ one hundred 

thousand dollars ($100,000). This manufactory, situated ill the 
vcrv heart of the cotton industry of the Southland, can transform 
the cotton seed into cotton seed oil, cotton seed meal, cotton seed 
fertilizing substances, and their numerous by-products. This is 
an aee of Utility and the toiling farmers of the South are entitled 
to receive the benefit of every possible product that can be manu- 
factured from the cotton on their farms. Heme the operation of 
this plant will be a Godsend to the farmers of that region, for it 
will enable them to utilize everything from their cotton except the 
di u and t he frost on the stalks. 



hi: 



Mound Bayou Land & Investment Company. 



In the rear of 1906 Mr. Banks organized the Mound Bayou band 
& [nvestmenl Company, with an authorized capital of fifty thou- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 209 

sand dollars ($50,000). In the organization of this company Mr. 
Banks put into operation a scheme of beneficence that has been a-> 
far-reaching in its effect as it was novel in its conception. It has 
ever been the desire of the founders and leaders of the Mound 
Bayou settlement to have a strictly Negro community, both as to 
race and the ownership of the land. When Mr. Banks first moved 
to the town of Mound Bayou he found that many farms of the 
eolored people were mortgaged for various sums of money to white 
capitalists and speculators. He immediately perceived the fact 
that if nothing were done to relieve the condition of the farmers 
by helping them to pay off the encumbrances on their lands much 
of the valuable land that was in the possession of the colored farm- 
ers would ultimately revert to the white capitalists and money lend- 
ers to whom the lands had been mortgaged. To the thoughtful and 
far-seeing mind of Mr. Banks such a possibility was fraught with 
danger to the future welfare and integrity of the Mound Bayou 
settlement. In order to prevent such a possibility by providing 
money for the payment of all mortgages either on or before the 
date of their maturity, the Mound Bayou Land & Investment Com- 
pany was organized. This company has wisely carried out the 
purposes for which it was brought into existence. It has wrought 
in a legitimate and business-like way a great and salutary change in 
the social and material status of many deserving members of the 
race, and it demonstrates in a practical way how much real strength 
there is in united action and what the race is capable of accom- 
plishing when the minds, hearts and financial resources of its mem- 
bers are working in a common and worthy cause. In having taken 
the initiative in launching this great race enterprise Mr. Banks has 
shown himself to be a real benefactor to his race. 

A Director of Two (treat Lite Insurani i. Companies. 

Mr. Banks is one of the directors of the Union Guaranty Insur- 
ance Company of Mississippi, a corporation capitalized at .^jo.imh) 
and chartered under the laws of that State for the purpose of doing 
a general life insurance and bonding business. He is also one of 
the directors of the Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company 
of the same State, a corporation that seems destined to play a very 
conspicuous part in the life insurance business of the colored people 
of the United States. In connection with his activities in the life 
insurance business. Mr. Hanks is one of the trustees of Campbell 
College. Jackson. Miss., one of the leading educational institutions 
of the A. M. E. Church. He is also one of the trustees of Utiea 
Normal and Industrial Institute, of which Prof. \Y. II. Holtzclaw 
is President. 



210 BEACOJU LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

His Religious Prominen< e. 

Mr. Banks has ever been a prominent factor in the religious life 
of his rare He is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and notwithstanding the fact that he is a layman, he has 
been singularly honored by tin heads of that church. In the year 
<>f 1896 he was elected a delegate to the General Conference of the 
African Methodist Episcopal Church; which convened in Wilming- 
ton, N. ('.. and he has been honored with election to every general 
conference since that year up to the present time. He is consid- 
ered one of the pillars of Methodism in his State, and his loyalty and 
fidelity to his branch of the great Christian Church have meant 
much to its welfare and progress. 

His Political Career. 

It would not seem natural for a man of Mr. Hanks' active and 
aggressive temperament to be satisfied without participating t<> 
some extent in politics. While he is a business man rather than a 
politician, yet the fact that he is interested in the political welfare 
of his people should be a matter of commendation instead of cen- 
sure. 

Whatever differences of opinion there may he with reference to 
the participation of the race in politics, there can be no douht of 
the fact that any intelligent, law-abiding citizen that does not exer- 
cise his privileges under the constitution of the land is generally 
looked upon with suspicion and disfavor. 

In the year of 1890 Mr. Hanks served as census (numerator in his 
district. In the year of 1900 the Secretary of the Interior. Hon. 
Ethan A. Hitchccok, appointed Mr. Hanks Supervisor of the 
Twelfth Census for tin Third Supervisor's District of Mississippi. 
H. was elected a delegate to the National Republican Convention 
from the Third Mississippi District in 1904, while in the year of 
1908 he was a delegate at large from his State to the National 
Republican Convention at Chicago. 

Mr. Hanks was appointed Colonel on the stall' of Hon. .1. W. 

Lyons in the greal parade in the city of Washington. I). ('.. mi the 
occasion of the inauguration of Hon. Theodore Roosevelt as l'resi 
dent and Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks as Vice-President of the 
( fnited States of America. 

Mr. Hanks was the original Taft supporter in the State of Mis 
sissippi in tin now historic campaign tor the Republican nomina- 
tion tor tlu presidency in tin- year of 1908, and with voice and pen 
In did more than possibly any other man to turn popular support 
in the direction "f Mr. Taft's candidacy. Having been such a 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 211 

valiant supporter of the candidacy of Mr. Taft tor the nomination, 

Mr. Hanks was the choice of the delegates of his race tO second the 
nomination of the party's standard hearer, hut for the sake of polit- 
ical expediency this honor was not conferred upon him. 

His Educational Activities. 

That Mr. Banks is thoroughly in sympathy with the educational 
interests of the race is demonstrated by the fact that more along 
educational lines has been done by him for the town of Mound Bayou 
and the surrounding; countrv than has heen done bv the combined 
efforts of all other forces. It was largely through his influence 
and solicitation that the Carnegie Library was given to the town 
of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Also, the Jeanes Fund has been 
made available through his efforts. This fund is one of the great 
philanthropic acts of recent years, and has for its object the encour- 
agement and development of rural schools in communities where 
the resources of the county are not sufficient to provide means for 
the proper running of the schools for a reasonable length of time 
during the year. 

One of the most substantial advantages that has been gained for 
the Mound Bayou settlement through the efforts of Mr. Banks 
was the appointment of a government agricultural expert for the 
benefit of the farmers. This expert is paid a salary by the general 
government, and it is his duty to make demonstrations of the best 
methods of farming and to teach practical things along the line of 
agricultural economy. 

Mr. Banks had personal charge of Dr. Booker T. Washington's 
itinerary through the State of Mississippi. Many who were in 
position to know pronounce the itinerary of the doctor to have 
been one of the best planned and one of the most successful 
in the history of his travels through the country. The distinguished 
visitor was tendered a continuous ovation the entire length of his 
journey, and the illustrious George Washington of the earlv days 
of the republic was not more joyfully received on his journey to 
the capital of the nation in order to take in hand the reins of gov- 
ernment than his distinguished namesake of a different race and 
generation was received by his appreciative and admiring country- 
men. 

His Greatest Success. 

In the year of 1893, before reaching his majority, Mr. Banks 
achieved one of the greatest successes of his eventful carter when 
he won and led to the altar Miss Trennie Ophelia Booze, of Natch- /. 



212 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



Miss. She was a student of the Natchez Baptist College, one of the 
Leading educational institutions of the State of Mississippi. Among 
her many claims to the appreciation and gratitude of her race is 
the fact that she was for some time a teacher in the schools of her 
native State. She is a highly intelligent and refined woman, and 
such a companion as can ornament and bless the home of a worthy 
and appreciative man. It' Mr. Hanks has made any unusual headway 
up the hill of life, the accomplishment has largely been due to the 
encouragement and devotion of his wife. She is one that is loyal and 




RES1D1 mi 01 MR. \M> MK\ CHARLES BANKS, 
Ml lUND iiv. 01 , Miss. 



MRS. I 1IAKI ES B \NK 



true to tin interests of her husband, and capable of giving to him 
thai encouragement, advice and support that a successful business 
man must have to enable him to steer clear of the Scylla and 
( harybdis of business misfortune. She is noted for her many 
domestic accomplishments and for her genuine hospitality. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 213 

His Palatial Home. 

In the year of 1<)08 Mr. Banks had erected for his use the most 
palatial residence in the delta section of the State. It is constructed 
on modern plans and it is commodious enough to house a small-sized 
army. It is provided with every convenience and comfort that the 
heart or mind can desire, and should satisfy the ambition of any 
one. The approximate cost of this most magnificent home in the 
delta was ten thousand dollars ($10,000). The rich barons of olden 
times did not live in more real comfort and security than does the 
subject of this sketch in his palatial home. 

Secretary-Treasurer of the Masonic Benefit Association. 

In the month of December, 1910, at Holly Springs, Miss., Mr. 
Banks was elected by an overwhelming vote to the responsible posi- 
tion of Secretary-Treasurer of the Masonic Benefit Association. 
It is one of the most responsible positions in the gift of the order 
and worthy of the aspirations of any man. In this official capacity 
it is his bounden duty to look after the endowment finances of the 
order and see that each policy is paid to the proper and legal bene- 
ficiary. His office as Secretary-Treasurer is located at Mound 
Bayou, Miss., and in it there are employed nine clerks for the 
proper and expeditious performance of the duties of the office. In 
the course of a fiscal year the sum of $200,000 is collected and dis- 
bursed in proper channels. 

This department of the order was organized in the year of 1880, 
and this fraternity has the honor of being one of the pioneer orders 
to establish the endowment scheme of beneficence which is now gen- 
erally in force in every reputable fraternity in the land. The endow- 
ment policy of the order is $700, and is thus one of the largest in 
the realm of lodgedom. 

The Secretary-Treasurer has one of the best equipped offices in 
the State, and everything in it is on parity with his own up-to-date 
ideas. The office has the latest filing devices, which enable any 
member or any payment to be traced back to the establishment of 
the department in the year of 1880. 

A Man in Splendid Circumstances. 

While the writer has no definite data showing the financial 
resources of the subject, yet there is every reason to believe that 
he is one of the wealthy colored men of the State of Mississippi. He 
is said to own a controlling interest in tin Hank of Mound Bayou. 
He has some valuable city property, and lie is also one of the largest 



214 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

land 1h>1<]( rs of color in the delta section of li i -> State. Connected 

as he is with all of the big corporations of the race in the State ot 
Mississippi and a leading spirit in their management, then- is no 
reason why the subject should not he one of the hading men of th • 
State in point of wealth. 

An Active and Progressive Leader. 

Judging by the signs of the times, Mr. Hanks is one of the com- 
ing men of tin- race in the State of Mississippi. He lias many things 
in his favor to aid him in scaling to the very top of the ladder of 
success. He is young, healthy and popular, and all of his faculties 
ure in their fullest development. He is a veritable human dynamo of 
activity and energy. He is connected with nearly every enterprise 
of note in the State of Mississippi, and is undoubtedly one of the 
busiest men in the State. He has a mind that is capable of continu- 
ous, incessant .and interminable effort. It would be utterly impossible 
tor an ordinary mind to keep in touch with the multitude of business 
affairs that daily form the routine of his life. 

Mr. Banks has many of the elements of an ideal leader. He is 
a tireless worker. When he moved to Mound Bayou in the vear of 
1904 the force of his personality was immediately felt in the affairs 
of the town, and a wonderful change was wrought in the town in 
a very short lime. The main public enterprises of the Mound Bayou 
settlement owe their inception and fruition to his leadership and 
ability. He has the power of initiative to an unusual degree and is 
able to think carefully over and attempt to do a dozen different 
things before an ordinary mind will have even waked up to the situa- 
tion. \\ 'bile he is one brilliant star of the first magnitude in the town 
of Mound Bayou, Miss., he has surrounded himself with some verv 
brilliant satellites. He has brought to the town to co-operate with 
him in business matters splendidly educated men as private secre 
taries. expert accountants and high class clerical experts. He has 
introduced new and virile red blood to build up the old municipal 
structure from its very foundation. 

Mr. Hanks has not a high per cent, of Anglo-Saxon blood in bis 
veins, as everj one knows. Therefore, the Negro race is entitled to 
receive full credit for his enterprise, genius and brains. He has 
every qualification tor a born leader of men. and his success in this 
particular demonstrates the truth of the statement. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 215 



W. W. (o.v. Indianola, Miss. 

Cashier Delta Penny Savings Hank. 

As the years succeeding the emancipation of the race have drifted 
into the dim mists of the past, and the raee has gained in experi- 
ence and knowledge of the world, it has been able to pause in its 

eareer and take an inventory of its stock in the material world. 
When it is considered that four million ex-slaves, wholly unprepared 
for citizenship, were literally turned loose in all of their ignorance 
and poverty on the cold charity of the master classes and the philan- 
thropy of the world at large, the race has made marvelous progress. 
Not only has the per cent, of illiteracy been decreased many fold, 
but all of the evils that follow in the wake of illiteracy and ignorance 
have decreased in like ratio. The great increase in intelligence on 
the part of the race is reflected in the business life of the raee, for it 
is in the domain of business life that all knowledge will be most 
effective and serviceable. 

The business life of every race is a matter of evolution and comes 
only with increased knowledge of the world and confidence in the 
members of the race in their relationship with each other. The 
progress of the raee in business life in the past few years has been 
indeed highly gratifying, and there seems to be at hand a regular 
tidal wave of business prosperity unprecedented in the history of 
the race. If the signs of the times look auspicious for the business 
life of the race it is due to the indefatigable efforts of the premier 
business men of the race, who have labored unceasingly to promote 
the business interests of the race. 

Born on a Plantation. 

Mr. W. W. Cox, one of the foremost and most aggressive business 
men of the race, is a native of the State in which he is so widely 
and so favorably known, and when- he has resided all of his life. 
He was born on the Griffin plantation about four miles from Lexing- 
ton. Mississippi, August 8, 18(il. and he spent the days of his life 
working thereon until he was eleven years of age. 

His Education. 

The subject of this sketch attended the primitive schools of 
Holmes County, Miss., until he was eleven years old, at which time 
he was so precocious as well as so fortunate as to win a scholarship 
to Alcorn University. He attended Alcorn University for two 



216 



BEA( ON LIGHTS OF I HE RA< E 




\\ . \v. COX 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE l\j 

years, or until he was thirteen years of age, when he returned home 
and worked in the postoffice at Lexington. Miss. This residence 
in Lexington, Miss., at that time was his first town experience, and 
he enjoyed the sensation to such a degree that he gladly served as 
mailing clerk in the postoffice for one and one-half years. 

A School Teacher at Fourteen Years. 

At the early age of fourteen years he began his career in the 
teachers' profession in Holmes County. Miss., and by the time he 
had attained to the age of sixteen he had risen to the dignity of 
principal of one of the county schools and had two subordinate 
teachers with him. His object in teaching school at such an early 
age was to earn the money with which he might be able to complete 
his education. 

Back to Alcorn University. 

At the age of seventeen the subject was fortunate enough to have 
earned sufficient money with which to return to Alcorn University, 
which he did. and he remained a student in the classic walls of that 
institution until he lacked only a few months of graduating, when 
his hard-earned money was exhausted and he was forced to beat a 
hasty retreat from the university. This sad and abrupt departure 
from Alcorn University put an end to the subject's active school 
davs. and transferred his energies to the school room in another 
capacity. 

Went to Indianola, Miss., January 1, 1884. 

The financial experience of the subject while a student in school 
was not without its benefit, for it taught him the real importance of 
the almighty dollar. Two or more times his depleted purse had 
caused him to quit school, and the last time he resolved to abandon 
school life and go to work. He had had so much experience with 
adversity that he was determined to better his condition. He had 
confidence in his ability to go to the top if he only had the oppor- 
tunity. But he also remembered the old maxim that "opportunities 
are made, not found." and he took renewed courage in his ambition 
to succeed. He was willing to go to the very bottom in order to 
rise to his greatest possibilities. Having carefully thought of the 
best place where he might locate and grow up with the country of 
his adoption, it seemed to his ambitious mind that his prospects would 
be best promoted by seeking a backwoods, railroadless town, where 
conditions were most primitive, and where he would be able to take 
advantage of conditions better than would be possible in an old 
commmunity. With this object in view he tumid his adventurous. 



218 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE BA( E 

steps toward the isolated, sparsely populated and primitive village 

of Indianola, Miss. He had to quit Alcorn University on the 28th 
of Di ■(■( ruber. INS.;, and he arrived at the village of Indianola, Jan- 
uary I. 1884. It i- not stated just in what manner Mr. Cox nego- 
tiated the distance between Alcorn University and Indianola. hut as 
he was a very young, vigorous and determined man, it is more than 
probable that he walked, tor his shoes showed much evidence of 
wear and tear when he arrived at Indianola, Miss., on that mem- 
orable New Year's Day with his feet nearly on the snowy ground 
and only seventy-five cants remaining in his pocket. 

A School Teacher in Indianola. 

The schoolmaster is not only the hope of every community, but 
he is also the hope of the nation. The coming of the subject to 
Indianola, Mi^v. to grow up with the community was indeed for- 
tunate for all parties concerned, for it opened up to him a wide 
and important held for service, usefulness and financial advance- 
ment, and it provided tor the youth of that community an earnest, 
capable .and efficient teacher. Mr. Cox entered with determination 
and zeal upon the performance of his duties as teacher, but he al- 
ways had an eye that was open for the chance to better his financial 
condition. He proved to be one of the most successful teachers in 
his county and enjoyed the honor of teaching the public school at 
Indianola from 1884 until 1890, when lie resigned to accept a posi- 
tion in the Railway Postal Service. 

Invested Hi- First $500 in Land. 

Tin- subject of this sketch had Learned from bitter experience 
what a disadvantage it is to be without money, and that experience 
was an ever-present incentive to him to save his money for the 
proverbially snowy day, for once in his life he had really been 
barefooted on a snowy day on the first of January. 1884. In a 
reasonable period of time after his location at Indianola he had 
succeeded in accumulating the sum of .~r.">(H). and consequently he 

was then rich beyond the dream of avarice. Just as soon as he had 
saved up this sum of money his innate business sagacity caused 
him to invest the whole in llio acres of land in the year of 1SS7- 
The habit of buying and selling land is so deeply continued in the 
character of the subject that it is nearly second nature for him 
to do SO. 

A Clerk in the Railway Postal Service. 
In the year of 1890 the career of tin' subject as a schoolmaster 

Came to an end when he resigned his position in the Indianola pub- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 219 

lie school to accept a position as clerk in the Railway Mail Service. 
He served in the postal service from 1890 to 190"), or for fifteen 
years, without a single demerit. This record is nearly unprece- 
dented in the records of the railway mail service. He was perhaps 
the most experienced and the most efficient clerk in his division of 
the service, and served as head clerk of his division for several 
years. Mr. Cox made good in the postal service, as he has done in 
every capacity, and the government service suffered a great loss 
when he resigned to devote his time fully to business pursuits. 

Cashier Delta Penny Savings Bank. 

On the 29th day of October, 1904, the Delta Penny Savings Bank 
of Indianola, Miss., was incorporated, and the bank opened for the 
transaction of business in 1905. This bank is capitalized at $35,000, 
the greater part of which is already paid in. Situated in the fertile 
delta of the Yazoo River, amidst a teeming population of hard- 
working people, it is but reasonable that the bank should thrive. The 
subject of this sketch was elected to the responsible position of 
Cashier of the Delta Penny Savings Bank when it was organized, 
and his financial rating in the marts of commerce and his genius 
as a high class business man have helped to make the Negro bank 
at Indianola, Miss., the largest bank in the State of Mississippi. 

The Second Largest Negro Bank in the World. 

Not only has the Delta Penny Savings Bank of Indianola, Miss., 
the honor of leading every other Negro bank of the State of Mis- 
sissippi in resources and general volume of business, but it is con- 
sidered l>v financial experts as the "Second Largest Negro Bank in 
the World." This hank has been in operation for over six years, and 
its record stands nearly unapproachable in the banking institutions 
of the race. The high-class business ability and the known integ- 
rity of the leaders of this bank have won the confidence of the gen- 
eral public, as have the leaders of few other banks, and this is in 
part the explanation for this bank's marvelous success. Mr. Cox, 
the worthy Cashier of this bank, may not be the wealthiest man of 
the race in the State of Mississippi, but the word of no other man 
in the State has greater weight with the business interests of the 
State. He is recognized by all classes as a man of perfect business 
integrity and the soul of business honor. 

"The Best Business Man in the State of Mississippi." 

It is the proud boast of the many friends of the subject to 
proclaim him as "the best business man in the State of Mississippi." 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE IIACE 

This is a great compliment to bestow upon any man, for the State 
of .Mississippi stands at the very head of the States of the Union 
in banking circles, having in its borders about a dozen banks pre- 
sided over by some of the most aggressive and progressive business 
men in the ranks of the race. The greatest asset of any bank, after 
all. is the confidence of the people in its leadership. If this be true, 
tin bank of the race in Indianola, Miss., is worthy of its distinction 
and vast patronage. The record of the cashier in business circles 
is as clean as a hound's tooth, yes. it is as clean as two hounds' 
teeth put together. All over the State of Mississippi his word has 
the same potency in business circles as a gold government bond. He 
has perfect business judgment, and knows exactly what to do or 
not to do at the psychological moment. He is also a trained business 
diplomat, and this fact is evidenced by the thorough manner in 
which he is identified with all classes of worthy people. On the 
directorate of the Delta Penny Savings Bank are many farmers, all 
of whom arc men of substantial means. These farmers are all hon- 
est and industrious men, and have gone into the banking business 
with no evil intentions at the expense of their fellowmen. Their 
official connection and interest in the bank are due mainly to their 
confidence in the prospects of the race and in the business integrity 
of the bank's cashier, and the financial interests of the race have 
received the right kind of impetus by the direct and active partici- 
pation of these honest, practical and level-headed farmers. The 
average bank of the race is top-heavy with professional men, but the 
Delta Penny Savings Bank of Indianola, Miss., has a directorate 
that is connected with the soil of the earth, the source of all wealth. 
and the bank's cashier. Mr. YV. \X . Cox. is to be congratulated for 
his strategic, sagacious and far-sighted policy. Notwithstanding 
the fact that the bank has been in successful operation for several 
v. .irs. there has never been the least dissension among the bank's 
directors. 

Cashier's Like is Insured for the Benefit of the Bank. 

That there is an abundance of gray matter used in the manage- 
ment of the Delta Penny Savings Bank is evident by the unusual 
manner in which they have sat. guarded the bank's interest by 
insuring the life of its cashier tor the ben, tit of the bank. It has 
long since been realized that the wonderful prosperity of the Delta 

Penny Savings Hank is largely due to the financial prestige and 

known integrity of its cashier, and it has ever been the apprehension 
of the far Sighted officials of the bank that the bank's interests 
would sutler materially if any great calamity in the shape of dis- 
ease should befall its cashier. Appreciating the fact that life at 



BEACON UailTS OE THE R.K'E 221 

best is an uncertain proposition, the officials of the bank have 
insured the life of its cashier for twenty thousand dollars, the same 
to be paid to the bank in case of death. This is one of the most 
practical and one of the most far-sighted business acts that has ever 
been brought to the attention of the writer, and demonstrates the 
fact that the sagacity of the leaders of this bank merits the bank 
the great honor that the bank now enjoys, the honor of being the 
"second largest Negro hank in the world. Not only is the life of 
the cashier insured for the benefit of the bank, but all of the bank's 
officials are heavily bonded for the protection of the bank. 

A Benefactor to the Colored People of Indianola. 

As it has already been stated, Mr. Cox bought his first 160 acres 
of land in the year of 1887 with his first humble savings of $500 
from the profession of teaching. From this beginning he has pur- 
chased many thousands of acres of land, but he has also sold thou- 
sands of acres in the same time. He has for years enjoyed the dis- 
tinction of being one of the largest land speculators of the race in 
the State of Mississippi. Having purchased so many thousands of 
acres of land, it has been his privilege and pleasure to sell homes 
to hundreds of his race and on terms that would not have been 
possible if they had been dealing with people that had no personal 
interest in them. The owners of hundreds of homes will ever hold 
the name of the subject in grateful remembrance, because it was 
through his kindness and means that they were able to purchase their 
homes. In this particular Mr. Cox may be considered a benefactor 
to the race, for he has wrought in such a worthv manner that many 
of the members of the race are the proud owners of homes through 
his kindness and generous efforts. 

His Political Prominence. 

The subject of this sketch is by preference a business man rather 
than a politician, but he has been forced by circumstances to play a 
leading part in the domain of political life. He is easily the most 
influential man with the political powers that be in his section of 
the State, and he has ever proved himself to be a wise and far- 
sighted politician. He is chairman of the Republican Executive 
Committee of Sunflower County, and has served in that capacity for 
five years. He has a real standing in the political life of his party, 
for there is something substantial behind him. 

The Strongest Business Promoter in Mississippi. 

Mr. Cox is directly interested in more business enterprises than 
possibly any other man in the State of Mississippi. He seems to 



222 BEACON LIGHTS OF I Hi: RACE 

have stock in nearly everything of value in the State, and to be the 
premier promoter of the business enterprises of the race. He has 
the unique distinction of owning stock in every Negro bank in the 
South except one He is. figuratively speaking, loaded down to 
the hars with responsibility. His financial integrity is so generally 
known and esteemed that he is usually elected treasurer of nearlv 

• * 

- very enterprise with which he is connected. He is Secretary-Treas- 
urer of the Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company, a com- 
pany that is incorporated under the laws of Mississippi and capi- 
talized at $100,000, the greater part of which has already been 
paid in. This insurance company will be operating in all the Stat- s 
of the Union in less than a year, and is destined to be the first great 
old line life insurance company of the race in the world. It has 
already been writing all kinds of insurance in the State of Missis- 
sippi for about three years, and the success of the company has 
demonstrated beyond peradventure of doubt the ability of the mem- 
bers of the Negro rate to understand and master the intricacies of 
the life insurance business. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the Mis- 
sissippi Loan, Improvement and Industrial Company of Indianola. 
Miss. This company is capitalized at $20,000, and does a general 
building and loan business. The company's president is Dr. J. E. 
\\ alker, one of the most prominent physicians and capitalists of 
Indianola, and with these two financial geniuses at the helm the 
progress of the company will be guaranteed. Mr. Cox is also Secre- 
tary-Treasurer of the Woodmen of Union, a fraternal organization 
that was founded by Hon. I.. J. Winston. This fraternity has a 
membership of 7,000 and uses the Delta Penny Savings Bank as its 
depository. The writer could go on ad infinitum narrating the vari- 
ous organizations of which Mr. (Ox is financial officer, hut lie will 
end the suspense by making his official duties unanimous. 



1 lis WoKI.ni.Y (1 



nous. 



The subject of this sketch went to Indianola, Miss., when it was 
tar less pretentious as a town than it is now. He went there when 
it was a backwoods, railroadless village, tor the purpose of growing 
up with tin- country, .and how well hi' has succeeded in his original 
intention is a matter of common knowledge to nearlv everv intelli- 
-''it colored iii.in in the State of Mississippi. He his not onlv 
grown up with the country, but he has even grown ahead of the 
country in worldly accumulations. He is easily one of the wealthi- 
est colored men in the State of Mississippi. From time to time he 
has been one of the largest land owners m the delta country. In 
spit'' of the fact that he constantly buys and sells land, yet he 
always keeps in his ownership from 1,000 to 2,000 acres of fertile 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



22.^ 






i m j. • i 



•*»» 

<»!«■" 







RESIDENCE A 



ND l'AKLOR OF MR. AND MRS. W. W. COX 



224 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

land. The value of his farming land will make quite a sum of 
money. He has about thirty substantial tenement houses in Indiano- 
la. His residence is a commodious, substantial building, with twenty 
acres surrounding or in close proximity to it. While the subject has 
much in the line of material resources, he is generally thought to 
have more available cash money than any other man of the race in 
his State. It is universally supposed that Mr. Cox is one of the 
wealthiest men in the State of Mississippi, but however great his 
worldly resources may be, they are but a mere bagatelle in com- 
parison with his moral wealth. He is a millionaire in character even 
it' he were a pauper in rags. 

His Devoted Wife. 

Perhaps the fondest recollections in the youthful days of the 
subject were at the time when he, at the age of thirteen years, was 
serving as mail clerk in the postoffice at Lexington, Miss., for it 
was while serving in that capacity that lie first became acquainted 
with the dear one who was subsequently to be his devoted wife. On 
the 3 1 s t of October. 1889, Mr. Cox was united in marriage to Miss 
Minnie M. Geddings, of Lexington, Miss. She was educated at 
Fisk University. Nashville, Tenn.. and she is a woman of splendid 
education and culture. It was her privilege to engage in the pro- 
fession of teaching tor several years, and she not only taught in 
the common schools of the county, but she also assisted her husband 
when he was principal of the Indianola Colored Public School. 

She Was Postmistress at Indianola. 

( )u the 28th of January, ISPl. Mrs. Minnie Cox was honored by 
President Benjamin Harrison with the appointment as Postmistress 
of the [ndianola postoffice. She was reappointed by President 
William McKinley to the head of the same postoffice January 23. 
1900. Sin- served in all for nine or ten years as postmistress oi 

Indianola. and the records of the office demonstrate the fact that 
she was on.- of the most efficient and one of the most popular officials 
that ever served in a similar capacity. 

Mhs. Minnie Cox an Idem. Woman. 

The wife of Mr. Cox i^ on< of tin most tactful and one of the 
iikisI diplomatic women of which the race ean boast, and she is the 
one woman in this wide world that has complete mastery of her 
tongue. Shi has ever aspired to do her best in every capacity, and 

her efforts have always been rewarded with success. When she 

was a student at college sh< studied with a serious purpose in view. 



BEACOX LIGHTS <>F I III: /.',/< /■; 225 

and thus it has ever been, whether teaching school, serving as post- 
mistress of [ndianola, or looking after the domestic affairs of her 
household. She is an ideal woman from every point of view, and she 
is the greatest inspiration that her husband ever had in his career. 
She is affable, unaffected and entirely devoid of anything that even 
smacks of notoriety. She is a grand woman, and no other mortal 
better knows this fact than her proud and devoted husband. 

Miss Ethel Grant Cox. 

The estimable and talented daughter of .Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Cox, 
Miss Ethel Grant Cox. is a graduate of the Almeda Garder Indus- 
trial School at Morehead. Miss., class of 1905. In the autumn of 
1905 she was a student of Knoxville College, where she remained 
for one year. In the year of 1906 she matriculated at Fisk Univer- 
sity, from which institution of learning she graduated in 1911 with 
the distinction of being one of the class orators. She is an intellec- 
tual young woman, and ought to contribute great happiness to her 
devoted parents, who have made every necessary sacrifice for her 
happiness. 

Conclusion. 

Mr. W. W. Cox is, personally, the most popular man of color 
in the State of Mississippi. He has never been identified with any 
organization that has for its object dissension and strife in the 
ranks of the race. He is a conservative man, and he does not mean 
to do a single soul the least harm. He is one of the hardest workers 
in the State and flourishes thereon like a green bay tree. There 
was a time in his life when he was glad to wear even the humble 
brogan on an occasion of state, but that time has long since passed. 
He saved his money just as soon as he had an opportunity to make 
it, speculated legitimately in real estate, and thus laid the founda- 
tion of one of the largest individual fortunes in the State. He is the 
soul of business integrity, and is popularly known as the premier 
business man in his State. He is truly tin architect of his own for- 
tune, and no other man is more entitled to the fruits of his honest 
labors. It would be a lasting compliment to any man to command 
the respect, confidence and esteem of the whole people to the extent 
that he does, and he merits every bit of his distinction. The race 
needs men of his character at the head of the business institutions 
of the race to lead it on to success and prosperity. 



226 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




DR. E. T. BELSAW 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 227 



E. T. Belsaw, D.D.S., Mobile, Ala. 




T HAS loii<r bet'n a theme for popular discussion which 
one of these desirable acquisitions to the fortune of man 
will conduce most to his happiness, viz.. good looks, good 
hick, fine intellect or great wealth. Some people wor- 
ship at one of these shrines, and some are devotees at the other, 
but insofar as they concern the popular, progressive and accom- 
plished dental surgeon whose name graces the head of this sketch 
and forms an entity to conjure with throughout the confines 
of his adopted State, the whole discussion is superfluous, inas- 
much as he has in his personal equipment all of these four 
most desirable blessings. As to the doctor's luck, it is the opin- 
ion of his many friends that he could find the bag of gold that 
is popularly supposed to lie concealed beneath the curved extremity 
of the rainbow if he should make any strenuous effort to do so. As 
to the doctor's personal pulchritude, or looks, the gods must have 
greatly rejoiced when they beheld the glory of their handiwork. 
As to the character of his intellect, the great success that he ha? 
achieved in his profession is ample proof. As to his wealth, that is 
a matter of public record and needs no details. 

A Native of Georgia. 

Contrary to what his prepossessing looks would indicate, the doc- 
tor is not a native of the State of Alabama, but he first held out his 
chubby hands to touch the big round moon in the historic town of 
Madison, Georgia, in the year of imphty umphty. His parents were 
rich in spiritual blessings, but poor in worldly treasures, for his 
sainted father was a devout minister of the African Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and labored not so much for worldly gain as for 
heavenly glory. 

His Literary Training. 

Owing to the fact that the doctor's father was an itinerant Meth- 
odist minister, the son's education was received in many different 
places. He attended the public schools in Dalton. ( 'artersvillc, and 
Atlanta, Ga. He also attended Dickerson Institute. Pittsburg, Pa. 
He took advantage of private instruction under Prof. G. E. Master- 
son of Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Ga. His persistence as a 
student was rewarded with a splendid education for life and its 
responsibilities, and the doctor has no regret for the many hours he 
spent in hard and determined study. 



BEACOH LIGHTS OF THE RAi E 

A Si HOOLMASTER IN" GEORGIA. 

The majority of successful men have at some time in life kept 
school, and the worthy subject is no exception to this rule, for he 
taught school in Coweta County, Ga., in 1897 and 1898. While 
his intellectual equipment made him a thoroughly capable and pro- 
ficient teacher, yet it is more than probable that his generous physi- 
cal proportions and great strength commanded more than passing 
notice and obedience from his pupils, and contributed much to the 
wholesome respect which they had for the rules and regulations 
of the school. 

The Potato King of His County. 

When a youth tin- doctor lived in many sections of the country, 
as necessarily would have been the experience of the son of an 
itinerant preacher, and many of the Leaves in the doctor's hook of 
experience are tilled with incidents as amusing as they arc strange. 
At the age of eighteen, having been induced by some strange eccen- 
tricity of his mind, lie resolved to live the dignified life of a success- 
ful farmer. He entertained original ideas of farming, and he decided 
to depart from the traditional and antiquated methods of farming 
and blaze out into unbeaten agricultural paths. Hi- would eschew 
the fleecy boll, which from time immemorial had been the refuge 
of the farming classes in the South. He looked with disdainful ey« s 
on King Cotton, who for untold generations had ruled with an iron 
hand the agricultural masses of the South. No. indeed; the futun 
dental surgeon would raise the SUCCulenl potato and literally coin 
money from the giant yield of his delicious tubers. So at great 
I spense and personal labor he planted many acres of the fruit from 
whose yield he was going to reap a golden harvest. Proudly and 
carefully did he cultivate his precious crop, ami In- watched over 
it as tenderly as ever a devoted mother watched over her tiny babe. 
finally the time drew mar when he would reap the fruits of his 
toil. The foliage shooting skyward from the earth gave every 
indication of a prodigious yield of potatoes, and the cup of his 
happiness was tilled to overflowing. When the psychological moment 
arrived to nap he complacently turned his hired forces into the 
potato held and they with potato forks and divers Implements began 
to penetrate Mother Earth tor tin succulent spoils that lay concealed 
in her bosom. Strong, sinewy arms plunged prongs of steel deep 
into the bosom of the earth, but not a single potato was found 

where all of his youthful hopes lay blasted. It was a grievous 

disappointment to the enthusiastic, agricultural reformer that nature 

should have turned her hack on him and held him up to ridicule 

before the eyes «>t nun. It proved tor him a valuable lesson, how- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

ever, for the experience showed that it is rather risky for a young 
and inexperienced hoy to play the role of reformer and defy the 
custom of untold years. 

A Business Max in Birmingham. 

For four years he was engaged in the real estate business in the 
city of Birmingham, Ala., and in that business he achieved gratify- 
ing success. The doctor's forte, outside of his profession, is in the 
realm of speculation, and his frank manner and suavity of speech 
are most convincing when there is any noise like coin of the realm. 

Off to Meharry Medical College. 

The fact that the doctor is one of the leading dental surgeons of 
the South is the result of a combination of circumstances rather 
than of any original intention on his part. The intellectual strength 
of the suhject had always heen evident to his friends and most of 
them looked upon him as sleeping on his opportunities while he was 
enjraffed in mercantile and real estate business. They considered 
him to have a mental power that would enable him to make his mark 
in one of the so-called learned professions. While he was engaged 
in business life his friends looked upon him as a "rose shedding its 
sweetness on the desert air.'' So his professional friend. Dr. A. 
M. Brown of Birmingham, his dear wife and others encouraged 
him to go oft* to Meharry Medical College for the purpose of study- 
ing dentistry, which he did in the year of l.OO-i. 

Hoxors at Meharry. 

While a student at Meharry Medical College, the suhject made a 
record for scholarship of which any one would well he proud. Dur- 
ing his final year in college he was honored with the position of 
Assistant Demonstrator of Operative Dentistry. Of the four prizes 
which were offered by the college authorities to his class the future 
dental surgeon won two. He won the prize for metallurgy and the 
general proficiency prize for all-round dental work. 

Hangs Out His Shingle in Mobile. 

The entrance of the doctor into the ranks of the professional 
practitioners in the State of Alabama was very auspicious. He 
passed the hoard of examiners on the Kith of May. 1908, and the 
examining board complimented him with tin- declaration that he 
had passed the hest theoretical and practical examination that had 
ever heen passed either by white or colored applicants in the history 



230 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

of the board. After his examination he decided to locate in the city 
of Mobile, Ala., and the success of his professional efforts has 
already been thoroughly demonstrated. 

A Costly Dental Parlor. 

The office of Dr. I".. T. Belsaw is one of the most completely 

fitted up dental parlors in the South. The conventional appliances 
and apparatuses of the average dental surgeon have been discarded 
1 v the subject, and the most modern and most up-to-date dental 
paraphernalia has been installed, without regard to cost. Instead 
of the ancient and time-honored Laughing gas apparatus, he has a 
Bomnoform outfit tor painless dentistry. His table and his labora- 
tory outfit is as complete as money can buy, and his whole profes- 
sional equipment is a compliment both to his professional ambition 
and his success as a practitioner. A conservative estimate of the 
cost of fitting up the doctor's commodious and elegant dental parlors 
is in excess of $2,000. 

The Larokst Dental Practice in the South. 

The bright future of the subject when a student in college, win- 
ning the honors and prizes of Ins class, has been more than realized 
in the brilliant and successful practicing dental surgeon of today. 
He has a practice in the city of Mobile that cannot be surpassed 
by any other dental surgeon in the Southland. He has won his 
patronage on his merits, and vain would be the efforts of any other 
dentist to try to win from him the patronage of any of his patients. 
The practice of the doctor is so extensive that the writer had to 
make an appointment for a conference with the doctor at night. 
His diary of engagements is kept full, and he is an extremely busy 
man during the entire period of his office hours. His patrons are 
loyal to him because they have implicit confidence both in the man 
and in his professional skill. He has the reputation of being one 
of the most capable .and one of the most resourceful dentists that 
ever tried to reduce to submission a wild and refractory molar. 

A Politic \i. Worker. 

The subject does not share in the belief that politics is a danger- 
ous tiling for the Negro race. but. on the contrary, he believes that 
ry man should hold in proper respect the exercise of the political 
franchise. He had the honor of being one of' the first colored 
men in the State of Alabama to register under the new State consti- 
tution, and he is one of tin feu Republicans in the State to par- 
ticipate actively in the councils of the party. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 231 

Various I [onors. 

The ability of the doctor, both as a professional man and a 

citizen lias been the cause of many honors being conferred upon 
him by his fellow citizens. He is President of the Mobile Medical, 
Dental and Pharmaceutical Association. He is President of the 

Mobile Emancipation Association and a director of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. 

His Accomplished Wife. 

In the year of 1901 the doctor was united in the holy bonds of 
matrimony to Mrs. M. V. Lovelle. a refined, cultured and wealthy 
widow of Chattanooga, Tenn. She was educated at Obcrlin College, 
and is a gifted woman of the highest intellectual attainments. She 
was for some time one of the leading educators of the South, and in 
that capacity she filled some of the leading positions in the insti- 
tutions of learning in the Southland. At one time she was the 
honored principal of the preparatory department of Straight Uni- 
versity, New Orleans, La. She was also at the head of Meridian 
Academy, Meridian. Miss., for some time. She is a charming 
woman, and is possessed of all the attributes that endow her for 
social leadership. She is vivacious, cultured and socially inclined, 
and just such a companion as will never permit time to drag heavily 
on her hand. She is a woman that is versed not only in books, but 
in the domain of finance. She combines business with brains, and 
she is in every respect a modern and progressive business woman 
and devoted wife. 

Addenda. 

Dr. Belsaw is the quintessence of affability, and is as royal in 
character as he is loyal in his friendships. He is one of the best 
men in the ranks of the race in Mobile, and merits the benediction 
of the gods and the best wishes of mankind. 



*-vV? 



232 



/./:./' <>\ lights OF i hi: H.i' r. 




II. \\ A\ M \N WILKERSON 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 233 

//. Way man Wilkerson, Memphis, Tenn. 
Funeral Director and Embalmer. 

N THE ancient geographies that were studied by the 

writer the great State of Illinois was known by the sou- 
briquet of "The Sucker State." and consequently many 
people with only a limited knowledge of the English 
language would have jumped to the wrong conclusion respecting the 
character of the people that are indigenous to that populous and 
progressive State. Indeed, the great State of Illinois is not the 
home of weaklings, for its rigorous climate, fertile soil, natural 
resources and intelligent population vender the propogation of 
weaklings an impossibility. 

His Nativity. 

The hustling, enterprising and aggressive business man who-'' 
life story is portrayed in this sketch, is a native of the State of 
Illinois, and was horn near the city of Alton. April Hi. 1 873. He 
was loyal to the interests of his native State, and spent therein all 
the days of his young manhood until the year of 1903. when he 
came South to seek fame and fortune. 

His Literary Training. 

The subject was educated in the State of Illinois, and he had 
the honor of being one of the first colored pupils to be admitted 
to the Upper Alton High School after the historic clash between 
the two races on the vita] question of the co-education of the whit 
and black races. After studying in the high school of his native 
city, he attended a business college in Decatur, to which city he 
had moved from Alton. Early in his career he had inclined to a 
business career, and it was the earnest desire to qualify for business 
success that induced him to take a commercial course. 

Ax Activk Politician in [llinois. 

While residing in the city of Decatur. 111., the subject became 
prominently identified with local politics, and so well did he suc- 
ceed in a political way that he was appointed to a position as deputy 
in the eountv sheriff's office, a position which he filled with credit 
for four rears at a salary of $75 per month. 



234 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Col. Wilkerson's Dramatic \m> Concert Company. 

At tin expiration of his term of office as deputy sheriff, his 
versatile talents and love f'« >r adventure caused him to organize and 
put on tin- road "Col. Wilkerson's Dramatic ami Concert Company." 
This interesting and entertaining aggri gation of artists traveled 
i xtensively through the Middle West and the South, and was far 
more successful than the usual run of such organizations. It was 
one of the first tests of his ability as a business man. and gave him 
an experience that proved invaluable to him in subsequent business 
ventun 

The Call of the South. 

The subject visited the South for the first time while he was 
managing his itinerant amusement aggregation, and the extraor- 
dinary sighi of the material progress of the colored people amazed 
him. llis mental horizon was enlarged many fold, and he had the 
faculty to sec the wonderful possibilities that the Southland pre- 
S< ats to every colored man with energy, push and brains. A^ soon 
as the advantages of the South were fully realized he resolved to 
locate in the South. It is not a characteristic of the subject to 
procrastinate when he is favorably impressed with a business propo- 
sition, for bis action is ever in obedience to his mind. In the year 
of I90S he wound up his business affairs in the North and turned 
his lace toward the South, the land of his hopes and his dreams, 
lb decided to locate in the city of Memphis, and for weal or woe 
work out his own destiny. The wisdom of his action may be epito- 
mized in the language of the immortal .Julius Caesar. "'He came, 
he saw, he conquered !" 

A Business Man in Dixie. 

In the year of 1903 the subject united with his brother. Rev. 

J. Jay Scott, in the purchase of the A. N. Johnson Funeral Direc- 
tory, which had been operating in the city of Memphis for some 
time. The new company was at first a mere co-partnership enter- 
prise, but the greal expansion of the company's business made it 
necessary to incorporate it in the year of 1908 with a capital o( 
- 5,000. The subject is tin President of this undertaking estab- 
lishment, and his active mind and business sagacity have done 
wonders for the success of his company. 



'©■ 



A High Official in Fraternity Circles. 

The subject is Grand Treasurer of the Knights and Daughters 
of Tabor, and one of the strong pillars of that growing, progressive 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 235 

and prosperous fraternity. lit- is also manager of the Odd Fellows 
Home Association Farm, a large and fertile tract of land thai is 
owned by that fraternity and devoted to benevolent purposes. He 
i\ prominently connected with most of the fraternal organizations 
in the city of Memphis, and his membership is highly esteemed by 
tin powers thai be in the various orders. 

Vice-President of the Fraternal Savings Bank. 

That the subjeci stands well in financial circles is evident from 
the fact that he is Vice-President of the Fraternal Savings Bank & 
Trust Company of Memphis, Tenn. He is a man of splendid 
financial rating, and his word along business lines is a guarantee 
of the fulfillment of every promise. 

His Estimable Wife. 

In the halcyon month of September, 1906, when all nature was 
in a state of suspense in preparation for its transition from the 
golden days of autumn to the bleak and chilling days of winter, the 
subject led to the altar as a companion for life Miss Hattie B. 
Foote, of Memphis. Tenn. She is a talented young woman of the 
best family connections, and for several years was one of the 
teachers in the Memphis City Schools. Her kind assistance and 
encouragement have been powerful incentives leading to his success. 
One child has been born to this devoted couple, Miss Hattie Mar- 
guerite Wilkerson. who will inherit the great love and devotion of 
her parents. 

Their Beautiful Home. 

The residence of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkerson is one of the most 
attractive in the city of Memphis. From the days of his boyhood 
it had been his ambition to own a beautiful home, and he early 
conceived in his mind the character of the home to which he 
would carry the companion of his heart. His home is constructed on 
the most approved Japanese lines. It is picturesque, stylish, capa- 
cious, well appointed, and suitable for the aspirations of any reason- 
able man. It is splendidly located, and its value will not depreciate 
because of improper environment. 

A Tributk to His Dear Mother. 

In the domain of the English language no other word has a 
sweeter or holier significance than the word "home." The spirit 
of adventure and recklessness may make a man brave the dangt r - 
and perils of unknown lands: it may cause him to bear with equa- 



- 6 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA( E 




KKSIDKNCE OF H. WAV MAN WILKKRSON 



nimity the chilling blasts of the polar regions or the fierce and burn- 
ing rays of the tropic's, but in either place his mind will ever revert 
to the place which in his hallowed recollections is ever known as 
"home, sweet home." Hut it may he asked. What is home without 
a mother? In the days of youth there can be hut one answer: 
"Home is nothing without mother's inspiration, care and love." It 
is the pleasure of the subject to give due credit to his devoted mother 
for having been the source of his every aspiration. It is largely 
to her sacrifices and encouragement that he owes every success in 
life, and he is appreciative and manly enough to desire the whole 
world to know it. Mrs. Sarah J. Wilkerson, his loving mother, was 
a free horn native of the State of Tennessee, and was horn near 
the city of Murfreesborough. Being of tree birth and ambitious 
for her own future, she did not think that it was compatible with 
her interests to continue to live in the South, so in the latter part 
of the decade of the 50's she turned her footsteps toward the 
North Star and settled down in the State of Illinois, where she 
married her firsl husband and where were born all of her children. 
Ambitious for the welfare of her children, she resolved to make 
e\er\ efforl and sacrifice to provide for them the blessings of a 

good education; and she went about it in such a determined and 

resourceful way thai in some inexplicable manner her efforts and 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 237 

prayers were crowned with success. In countless numbers of ways 
she worked, slaved and denied herself for the education of her 
children, and communicated to them her spirit of determination to 
succeed. If necessity is the mother of invention, Mrs. Sarah J. 
Wilkorson had a thousand necessities to develop her genius, for her 
responsibilities were increased a hundred fold by the absence of 
her husband, who was a Methodist minister. She worked hard and 
educated her children for the lives of usefulness which they all now 
live, and her reward is that which comes from the consciousness 
of duty well done. The dear mother is now an octogenarian, and 
is fast approaching the setting sun of her life, but she has long 
since earned her reward in the love, happiness and tender care of 
her devoted sons, all of whom bear faithful testimony to the great 
love that she lias ever showered upon them. The dear mother 
wrought better than she ever dreamed when she put her hands to 
the plow of duty and never looked back until duty had been well 
done. She has earned her repose and will never suffer for a single 
want as long as her loving sons have strength of hands or intellect 
to earn an honest dollar. The subject is the youngest son and has 
ever shared the constant companionship of his dear mother, and it 
is the supreme happiness of his life to give this feeble testimony 
to the dearest friend of his youth and the blessing of his ripe man- 
hood. If the subject had no other claim upon the best wishes of 
his fellowmen than the respect and love that he has for his mother, 
that fact itself would entitle him to undying praise and success, for 
the man that respects, loves and honors his mother will succeed just 
as sure as the stars continue to shine and the rains from heaven 
descend. 






:- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




REV. E. C. Mc'KKI- 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 239 



Rev. E. C. Morris, D.D., Helena, Ark. 



President of the National Baptist Convention. 




VERY grand and enduring monumeni to the cause of 
human progress lias been the result of ceaseless activity, 
sweat and even blood of some man or set of men, who 
conscious of the worthiness of their cause and the recti- 
tude of their action have been willing to sacrifice their all on the 
altar of their devotion. The freedom of the Negro race in 
America today is an imperishable monument to the undying 
patriotism and zeal of the heroic sons of freedom who were 
willing to suffer martyrdom, if necessary, for the triumph of 
the cause which they believed to be right. Likewise the blessings 
of civil, political and religious freedom which the Negro race now 
enjoys is the sweat-wrought and blood-bought privilege of sainted 
thousands, many of whom have long since crossed the threshold of 
eternity to their reward. 

One of the greatest sources of beneficence to any people is the 
worthiness of its Christian leaders, for after all the real progress 
and uplift of every people on this green footstool must be through 
the instrumentality of the Christian religion. Intelligence is neces- 
sary and wealth is desirable, but the sheet anchor of hope for the 
Negro race is an intelligent, consecrated, religious life. Main- 
solutions of the Negro problem are daily being advanced by socio- 
logical theorists and mathematical dreamers, but this great problem 
will never be successfully wrought except by the dissemination and 
practice of the principles of true Christianity. If this statement 
be true, those consecrated men who are honored with the religious 
Leadership of the race necessarily are the real leaders of the race, 
and upon their fidelity and Christian zeal depends the real progress 
of the race. 

Perhaps the greatest leader of the Negro race, by virtue of the 
authority that is vested in him by the great denomination of which 
he is the official head, is Dr. E. C. Morris, of* Helena. Ark., tin 
honored President of the National Baptist Convention. In this 
exalted official there is not only the acme of power and honor, but 
the personification of high Christian character. 

A Native of Georgia. 

The distinguished divine and eminent head of the Baptist denom- 
ination of the world is a native oi the State of Georgia, the Empire 

State of the South, and was born near Spring Place. May 7. Is 



BEACOHi LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

il- was born a slave on a farm, but he loses no sleep in lamentation 
over the accident <>t' his birth, for the blessings of freedom and 
opportunity which he now enjoys have more than compensated him 
lor his servile experience. 

His Parents. 

His father. Mr. .lames Morris, came from North Carolina to 

Georgia in the year of 1850. He was a man of intelligence and was 

fairly well educated for his day and time. The father, who worked 

his trade at Spring Place, was permitted to come out to the 

plantation twice a week. Wednesday and Saturday nights, and on 
- ach of these nights he would teach his children, so that when free- 
dom came all of the family could read and write except the young- 
< st child. In this particular the children of his family were v< ry 
fortunate, for they enjoyed the privilege of being instructed at a 
time when it was a violation of the laws of the land for a slave to 
he taught in hooks. The subject of this sketch was reared in an 
atmosphere of intelligence, and thus had an opportunity to imbibe 
much that was educational. 

His Living Brother and Sister. 

Tin- subject was the eighth link in the family chain of ten chil- 
dren. All hut three of them have alreadv been gathered to their 
eward. His brother, Rev. Wm. H. Morris, is a minister of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and resides in Morrillton. Ark. His 
sister. Mrs. Sarah .1. (ant. of Little Rock. Ark., is the estiniahh 
mother-in-law of Rev. J. A. Hooker, the worthy and ahle President 
of Arkansas Baptist College, which is one of the leading institutions 
of learning in the South. 

His Education. 

The subject first attended school in Dalton, Ga., in 1864 5. \\< 
spent .also a part of this same period in the schools of Chattanooga, 
T< no. In the year of 1866 he attended tin- public school of Steven- 
son, Ala., and remained therein until he had completed the course. 
Ever ambitious to prepare himself tor serious life, he wended his 
way to Nashville, Tenn., where he attended the old Nashville Insti- 
tute, now Roger Williams University, in 1874-5. 

A Schooi Teacher fob One Session. 

Perhaps the briefest official experience in his long and useful life 
w is liis tenure of offic< in a school room in North Alabama, where 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE /.'./< B 241 

he taught jus! our session. The school in question before Ins 
advent as teacher had been notorious for its Lax discipline and 
incorrigible pupils, and in consequence of that fact the embryo 
school master was offered a strong inducement in wages if he would 
heed the Macedonian cry for help and £0 down to remedy the situ- 
ation. He accepted the proposition and went down and took formal 
charge of the school, which had been the nightmare of many a 
terrified teacher and which had more than probably sent many in a 
state of distraction to the madhouse. Without needless elaboration 
of details, it may be here stated that the new teacher made good 
:nd mastered the situation from the very beginning. He immediately 
restored order out of chaos and caused the teacher's authority to 
be more positively recognized than it had ever been in the history of 
the school. Hut the unique and resourceful manner in which he 
triumphed over the discordant and hostile elements and reduced 
those wild and warlike combatants to peaceable and law-abiding 
pupils is one of the most excruciatingly amusing incidents of the 
subject's life, and must be related by him in his own inimitable 
style in order to be appreciated and enjoyed fully. 

A Shoemaker From IST'2 to 1886. 

Just as were the efficient and devoted servants of the Divine 
Master in the days of the apostles, the reverend subject of this 
sketch was master of a useful trade. Having served for some time as 
an apprentice at the trade, in course of time he became a skilled 
artisan in the shoemakers' trade, and plied his awl and needle in 
pursuit of the trade from 1872 until 1886, when the duties that 
were incident to his ministerial calling became so laborious that he 
was compelled to abandon the trade and devote his whole time to 
the gospel ministry. Though he has not pursued his old trade for 
;i quarter of a century, yet he can look with pardonable pride in 
retrospect on the days when he was a toiling shoemaker and rejoice 
because of the fact that so early in life he was blessed with an 
honorable and remunerative trade by which to maintain himself and 
the loved ones who were dependent upon him. 

Sktti.kd in Arkansas in 1 S 7 7 - 

In the year of IS77 the subject of this sketch was stricken with 
a malignant type of "Kansas ExodllS Fever," which so seriously 
afflicted the members of the race throughout the Southland that it 
caused teeming thousands of them to quit their homes in the older 
States of the East to seek freedom, equality, justice and oppor- 
tunity on the hallowed soil of Kansas, erstwhile "Bleeding Kansas.' 



242 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

The subject, while en route to this modern Promised Land, stopped 
over in Helena, Ark.. March 7. 1 <S 7 7 . -- 1 1 1 « 1 found there without for- 
th. t Western adventure a laud which more than rivalled in natural 
resources and possibilities th<- State of Kansas, to whose borders h<- 
uas then emigrating. His Locating in Helena, Ark., in this unex- 
pected manner was undoubtedly providential, for it put him in direct 
contact with the teeming thousands of his benighted people whose 
interest he might serve and to whom he could bring the blessings 
of spiritual light, comfort and joy. 

His Career in tiik Gospki, Ministry. 

In the month of September, 1874, the subject was converted in 
Stevenson, Ala., and forthwith united with the Morning Star Baptist 
( hurch of that place. In the same year he was licensed to preach 
the gospel. Having rapidly passed through the various stages of a 
ministerial exhorter. he was duly ordained in the month of July. 
I879j i'i Helena, Ark., to which town he had emigrated and where 
he had the honor of holding his first pastorate. 

Centennial Baptist Church. 

Dr. Morris enjoys a unique honor in the gospel ministry, for he 
has ministered to his present congregation for the whole period of 
his ministerial lite, and his present charge is the only regular 
pastorate he has ever had since his ordination as a minister. The 
original membership of Centennial Baptist Church at the time when 
he assumed the pastorate was twenty-two. and the congregation did 
not own any realty. Now the membership of the church is in excess 
of five hundred, and they own one of the most commodious, most 
substantial and most elegant church edifices in the whole country. 
The church is conservatively valued at $40,000. It has a flourishing 
Sunday School of .KMi pupils and fifteen teachers. 

1 [onors in tiik Ministry. 

The doctor assumed the duties of pastor of his church with a 

determination and zeal to do all in his power to further the cause 
of the Master's kingdom. In the year of 1879 he organized the 

Phillips, I.e. and Monroe County District Association, and was its 
honored Secretary tor two years. In the year of 1880 he was 

elected Secretary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, and 
served in thai capacity for two years. In the year of 1882 he was 
< Iictcd President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and 

has served in that exalted office for nearly thirty years. There are 
at present in the Stale of Arkansas over nine hundred churches of 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 243 

the Baptist denomination^ with six hundred ministers actively 
engaged in the work of evangelization. Of course, this number 
does not include the mighty host of preachers that have no certain 
employment. It is an unprecedented honor to have presided 
over the deliberations of the Baptist denomination of the State of 
Arkansas for thirty years without seriously disrupting the denomi- 
nation or otherwise retarding its progress. On the contrary, what- 
ever of prestige and might has been achieved by the great denomi- 
nation of which he is the official head in the State of Arkansas, 
has been due to his intelligent, progressive and aggressive leader- 
ship. 

Founded the Baptist Vanguard. 

In the year of 1882 the subject founded the Baptist Vanguard. 
the official organ of the Baptist denomination of the State of 
Arkansas, and one of the most consistent and influential religious 
publications in the South. He was not only the founder of this 
worthy organ of the denomination, but he was its editor for two 
years. 

One of the Fouxders of Arkaxsas Baptist College. 

Early in his career Dr. Morris realized the importance and value 
of education as one of the great means of elevating and Christianiz- 
ing the race. Under no condition does he subscribe to the belief 
that a man must be illiterate and even ignorant in order to be a 
Christian. On the contrary, he sees no reason why an educated 
man should not be able to be even a more intelligent Christian than 
he would otherwise be if handicapped by ignorance alone. The 
doctor believes in absolute surrender to God and the regeneration 
of the heart, but he discards all of those wild and superstitious 
follies that are the concomitants of ignorance. Believing thus, in 
the year of 1884 he helped to found Arkansas Baptist College at 
Little Rock. Ark., the premier educational institution in the State of 
Arkansas. For twenty-five years he was chairman of the board 
of trustees of this institution, but he was compelled to resign this 
office because of the extraordinary amount of work which the 
responsibilities of his various official positions entailed upon him. 
He is still a member of the college board of trustees. 

Chairman of the State Mission Board. 

Since the year of 1})<><) the subject lias served as chairman of 
the Arkansas State Mission Board. This board works under the 
co-operative system between the National Baptist Convention and 

the Southern White Baptist Convention. 



244 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

President of the National Baptist Convention. 

In the vcir of I891j Dr. Morris was elected to the position of 
Vice-President of the National Baptist Convention, and served in 
that capacity for three years, or until the year of 1894, in which 
ever memorable year he was elevated to the exalted position of 
President of the National Baptist Convention, which is the most 
commanding and the most honored religious office that is held by 
any Negro in the world. He has made a world-wide reputation as a 
resourceful and able presiding officer and parliamentarian. Fot 
nearly a score of vears he has presided over the deliberations of this 
:test official body of Christian workers in the known world, and 
his matchless leadership has caused the convention to make the 
most marvelous growth in its history. The distinguished President's 
brain lias been fertile with suggestions that have for their object the 
idvancement of the cause of Christianity and the general progress 
of the world. In connection with his official duties it may be 
timely to mention some of the wise suggestions that have emanated 
from him : 

(1) In the year of L893 he recommended the establishment of 
the National Baptist Publishing Board, whose plant is located in 
the city of Nashville. Tenn., and is worth $350,000. This is the 
largest Negro printing concern in the world, and is a most emphatic 
and most convincing proof of the progressive ideas of the denomi- 
nation. 

(2) He recommended the organization of the Baptist Young 
People's Association at Nashville, Tenn.. in the year of 1900. 

(.3) In the year of 1 <)•>(). he also recommended the organiza- 
tion of the National Baptist Woman's Auxiliary Board, with head- 
quarters at Washington, IX C. 

t) In tin- year of 1902 he recommended the organization of 
the National Baptist Benefit Association. This association is a grand 
link in the chain of benevolence, for it provides for the hard-worked 
and underpaid ministers of the gospel a protection from the infirm- 
ities of sickness and age. Any member of this organization can, by 
the payment of $1.00 per quarter, receive a benefit policy to the 
value of $200. Tims the National Baptist Benefit Association : s a 
business organization on parity with the most modern economic 

thought of the day. 

In the year of 1899 I"' organized the Baptist Home Mission 
Board, with headquarters at Little Hock. Ark. 

1 In. ii Religious I [onors. 

In the year of 1908 the subject had the honor ot' helping to 
organize the General Convention of North America, which is com- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE BAi E 245 

posed of all of the Baptists of North America, blacks as well as 
whites, and he is the only Negro member of the executive committee 
of this organization. In the year of 1905 he assisted in the organi- 
zation of the Baptist World's Congress, and lie has the honor of 
being the only Negro member of the American executive committee 
of this body. In connection with the actual work of both of these 
grand organizations, the doctor has naught but the highest praise 
to relate concerning the manner in which he is officially treated 
by his Christian brethren of the opposite race. 

His Honorary Degrees. 

In the year of 1S<)'2 State University. Louisville. Ky.. in recog- 
nition of the ability of the subject and his general contribution to 
the advancement of the cause of religious purity, conferred upon 
him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In the year of 1902 the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College at Normal, Ala., conferred 
upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 

Political Honors. 

Preachers should be a power for good to the community not only 
in the pulpit, but in every worthy cause for the progress of the 
race. It has long been the custom in some quarters to inveigh 
heavily against members of the ministry taking any active part in 
politics. A practical view to take of the matter is this: A preacher 
is, first of all, a citizen, just as any other man. As a citizen it is his 
right and duty to conserve the interest of society by encouraging 
and insisting that all men should look after the political institutions 
of the State and regard the exercise of the political franchise as the 
highest privilege of manhood. The fact is. no man with red 
corpuscles in his blood will be content to permit others to play hide 
and seek with his political rights as long as he has a single breath 
to plead his own cause. Dr. Morris has never profoundly slept on 
his political rights, for he considers them too precious ever to be 
ruthlessly disregarded. He represented the First Arkansas Con- 
gressional District at the Republican National Convention three 
different times, viz.. when it nominated Hon. .lames G. Blaine in the 
year of [884, Mr. Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and Mr. Theodore 
Roosevelt in 1904. In the year of 1908 he was alternate delegate at 
large to the Republican National Convention, which nominated 
President Taft. He has been a delegate to every Republican State 
Convention in Arkansas tor the past thirty years, and he is honored 
with election thereto it matters not whether or not he is in the 
State at the time. Thanks to the disinterested efforts of his kind and 
loyal friends, he is usually elected without opposition. 



246 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

A Notary Ptblic. 

Dr. Morris has hi' Id a commission as notary public in the State 
of Arkansas tor nearly a quarter of a century. As a rule bis com- 
mission is duly made out and forwarded to him through proper offi- 
cial channels without any undue solicitation on his part. 

In the Arena of Business Life. 

In the year of 1902 the subject organized the Helena Negro 
Business League and served as President of that organization for 
three years. He is also a niemhcr of the Executive Committee of 
the Negro State Business League. 

He is a director of the Mound Bayou Oil Mill & Manufacturing 
Company. He is a director of the Phillips County Land & Invest- 
ment Company, a corporation that is capitalized at $25,000, with a 
probable increase of capital to $50,000. He is interested in the 
Silver Wave Mining Company of Colorado. He is the owner of a 
farm of seventy-five acres of land on the river in Phillips County. 
He has an interest in a half block of unimproved land in North 
Helena. He owns four pieces of improved property and a home 
that is conservatively valued at $5,000. 

Has Not Had Time to Make Monet. 

The worthy doctor has been such a busy man striving to promote 
the advancement and uplift of his people that he has not had time 
to accumulate wealth, nor has he had any great desire to amass the 
treasures of the world. The fact is. his material interests would 
have serious] v suffered if it had not been for the business enerjrv, 
common sense and fidelity of his devoted wife, who has stood at the 
helm and guided the course of the family ship to its present haven 
OH the ocean of life. The doctor, knowing his busy religious life 
and his lack both of time and inclination to make money, has wisely 
looked after the future of his family by investing heavily in life 
insurance. His life is heavily insured for the benefit of his loved 
"lies, ami he can perform his religious responsibilities without 

apprehension of what might befall his family if it should please 
Providence to deprive him either of health or life. 

lli- Devoted wo Faithful Wife. 

November J7. 1884, Dr. Morris was united in tin holy bonds of 

matrimony to Miss Fannie E. Austin, of Fackhr. Ala. Thev had 
known each other for many years, and he had made her his choice 
when she was in her youth. True to his intention and promise, he 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 247 

returned to the old State and tied fasi the knot which will never be 
severed either in this life or in the Life to come. His wife attended 

school at Rusl Institute. Hnntsvillr. Ala., and taught school in 
Jackson County. Ala.. Cor a few years. She is one of the best 
women in the wide world, and has been the prime cause of her hus- 
band's splendid success. She has reared a very interesting family 
of children and they are all an ornament to their parents in more 
respects than one. Mrs. Morris sheds additional luster on the name 
of her distinguished husband because of her unselfish disposition 
and known fidelity. The doctor considers himself a very fortunate 
man because the Lord has blessed him with the companionship, 
assistance, devotion and love of such a rare and faithful wife. 

Their Children. 

Mr. Elias A. Morris. A.B.. is a graduate of Arkansas Baptist 
College, class of 1907. He is a clerk in the Census Department of 
the United States government. Washington, D. C, and is consid- 
ered one of the most efficient clerks in the service. He taught 
school for two sessions in the high school at Trenton, Ark. Fred- 
erick Douglass Morris. A.B., is a graduate of Howard University, 
class of lf)10. He is now a bookkeeper in the Bank of Mound 
Bayou and one of the confidential secretaries of Mr. Charles Banks. 
Miss Mattie E. Morris is a graduate of the Academic Department 
of Arkansas Baptist College. She is a teacher in the Helena Public 
School, and is in every respect a capable and worthy young woman. 
Miss Sadie Hope Morris is a student of Arkansas Baptist College, 
and Master John Spurgeon Morris is a pupil of the Helena Public 
School. 

As a Minister. 

It is superfluous to state that Dr. Morris is an ideal minister of 
the gospel, for his record in this respect is so pronounced that 
this statement cannot be gainsaid. His sacred vestments have ever 
been kept clean and unspotted before the world. During his long 
pastorate at Centennial Baptist Church, extending over a period of 
more than thirty years, there has not been a minute's serious fric- 
tion between pastor and congregation. This record is nearly unpre- 
cedented in the annals of church experience, for some jar will occa- 
sionally occur in the best regulated families. It is hardly probable 
that there is another minister of the race that is more highly appre- 
ciated, more honored and more sincerely loved than he. His con- 
gregation realizes the fact that it has at its head not only one of the 
most distinguished and one of the most honored ministers in the 
world, but one of the worthiest, .and that tor this reason, as well 



248 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

as countless others, its sh< plu rd is worthy of the greatest possible 
consideration. Knowing the highly responsible and overwhelming 
duties that devolve upon him as the head of the greatest Christian 

body in the world, the officials and members of his church make 
every provision for his comfort and happiness. 

As President. 

In the year of 1S<)1 the subject was elevated to the presidency 
of the National Baptist Convention, which represents the greatest 
constituency of any religious denomination of the Negro race in tin- 
wide world. Denominational statistics show that the Negro Bap- 
tists have a membership of considerably more than two million com- 
municants. The subject of this sketch is the chief presiding officer 
of this mighty Christian army, and as such he is one of the most 
effective and most potential agencies for the accomplishment of 
good to mankind. As presiding officer lie is in position to suggest 
and influence far-reaching and meritorious reforms along moral. 
religious and material lines, all of which are but successive links 
in the great scheme of beneficence for the advancement and uplift 
of the race. Few people indeed can fully realize what an exalted 
honor it is to lie the official and undisputed head of the greatest 
religious body in the world. Dr. Morris is by virtue of his official 
position the uncrowned king of the Negro race, and he has used 
his great powers in the fear and admonition of the Lord. 

Il has been his good fortune to have enjoyed a reasonably peace- 
ful administration during the whole of his incumbency, tor he has 
ever Striven to keep out of the councils of the denomination strife. 
i ilousies and bickerings. The rank and file of the masses of the 
denomination seem to have confidence in the ability, character and 
spiritual life of the worthy doctor, and there is no other man at 
I"' senl that seems in any way likely to dim his popularity or 
diminish his influence with the Baptists of this country whom he 
has led so long and so wisely for nearly a score of years. 

As ax Orator. 

It hat In en tin privilege of very few men to grace as main 
occasions as the doctor has graced in the cause oi' the welfare and 
uplift of his race. There i- no doubt that he has addressed a 
greater number of audiences in the course of' his career in the gospel 
ministry than any other Negro orator in the world. As President 
"I' Hi.- denomination his labors are world with-, and in the perform- 
ance of his official duties he has twice crossed the Atlantic ocean. 
As a clear, forceful and logical Speaker the doctor has few equals. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 2\< 

He is earnest and convincing, rather than demonstrative in his 
oratorical attempts. He has not the overwhelming eloquence of 
sonic, nor the classical scholasticism of others, but he is at all times 
,-i pleasing and satisfying speaker with a message to deliver to his 
hearers. If he has held the masses of the Baptist denomination as 
if in the hollow of his hand for lo ! these many years, it has been 
due not so much to the power of his oratory as to the thoroughly 
Christian character and sincerity of the man. In this practical, 
every-day existence it takes something more than the mere gift of 
oratory to convince and lead the people, for it has been demon- 
strated in the cases of many worthy aspirants for the presidency of 
the United States of America that some of the most eloquent men 
of the nation have ignominiously failed to gain the confidence and 
support of the people for that high office. The doctor is not the 
most learned, nor the most eloquent, nor the most handsome, nor 
the most wealthy minister of his denomination, but he is one of the 
most kindly, most even-tempered, most pleasant, most unpreten- 
tious, most conservative and most sagacious men of the race in any 
country or in any age. The proof of this statement is shown in his 
ability to stand at the head of his denomination for nearly a genera- 
tion and yet continue to retain his extraordinary influence, popu- 
larity and power. No man can turn back the veil of the future 
and tell what lies behind, but it will be no great surprise to the 
world to see the worthy leader of the Baptist denomination wield 
the sceptre of power until all that is mortal of him will be con- 
signed to the inanimate elements whence they came. 

Ax Estimate of the Doctor. 

Dr. Morris is officially the most distinguished Negro in the 
world, yet he wears his exalted honors just as if he were the 
humblest and most insignificant man in the world. He is entirely 
devoid of affectation and from casual conversation with him there 
would be no intimation of the exalted position that he fills in the 
religious life of the race. He is just the kind of leader to show 
to the world that a man can be highly honored and yet not feel him- 
self above the people who have honored him with dignity and power. 
He is the man to show to the world that "a man is a man for a' 
that,*' even if he does not hold a college diploma and belong to the 
most distinguished literati of the world. He is the people's choice 
for the exalted office that he holds and when his official career will 
have been ended he will return his official toga immaculate and 
unsullied to those whose prerogative it is to gi\c and receive. He is 
a great man in every application of the term, and the people of this 
country have every confidence in his moral integrity and Christian 
character. 



_ r 



BEACO.X LIGHTS OF TUB RACE 




REV. |. A. LINDSAY 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 251 



Rev. ./. A. Lindsay, D.D., Memphis, Trnn. 

Pastor of Avery Chapel A. M. E. Church. 

ERY few nun of rational minds will take issue with the 
assertion that the intelligent, worthy, divinely called 
minister of the gospel has a greater power for good to 
the world than possibly any other human being. Minis- 
tering to the moral, intellectual and spiritual welfare of his con- 
gregation, he has by virtue of his supposed integrity and sanctity 
the respect, esteem and confidence of his followers to a greater 
extent than any other man. This sketch is written as a tribute 
to an earnest, consecrated worker in the vineyard of the Master, and 
one that is not ashamed of the humble part that kind Providence 
has eommitteed to his hands to play in the elevation of his race 
and the general uplift of the world. 

His Nativity. 

Rev. J. A. Lindsay, the subject of this sketch, was born in the 
vicinity of Union, South Carolina, September 10. 1865. His early 
life was a struggle for mastery on the farm, and the ruggedness of 
his character and his fierce determination to succeed in life are in a 
measure traceable to the discipline and strength that he gained on 
the farm. 

His Education. 

The scholastic training of the subject was begun in the common 
schools of his home county, and in this particular he was a fortun- 
ate youth, for the colored people of those early days in his part of 
the State took such an extraordinary interest in education that they 
maintained schools for a considerable period of the year at their 
own expense, and thus were able to give their children far better 
advantages of education than were usually customary. Suffice it to 
state that his progress in the schools of his county was so satis- 
factory that he was able to pass with credit the examination for a 
teacher's certificate. His college training was received at Clark 
University, Atlanta. Ga.. at which institution of learning he matric- 
ulated in 1884. While a student in the literary department of 
Clark University, he began the study of theology and graduated 
from Gammon Theological Seminary in the year of 1888. 

His Career as a Minister of the Gospel. 

After his graduation from Gammon Theological Seminary in the 
year of 1888 he was ordained as a minister of the gospel and 



252 />'/•:./' <>\ LIGH1 - OF THE /.'./' E 

entered the traveling connection of the African Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In the course of over twenty years in the ministry he 
has become one of the strongest and one of the most influential 
pr< achers in his branch of the church, and he has been called to 
the pastorates of the leading churches of his denomination. He 
was the pastor of St. Philip A. M. E. Church. Savannah, Ga.. for 
four years. He was a Presiding Elder in the State of Georgia for 
eight years, and tor tour years lie was pastor of Bethel A. M. E. 
Church. Augusta, Ga., from which ministerial station he was called 
to the city of Memphis. Tenn., to take charge of Avery Chapel A. 
M. E. Church, which is one of the largest churches of the denomi- 
nation. He is now pastor of this church, and is doing a work for 
it that is second to none in the church's history. 

Honors From His Church. 

Some of the most exalted honors in the gift of his denomination 
have been conferred upon Rev. J. A. Lindsay. In the year of 1902, 
without any solicitation on his part, he was elected Dean of the 
Theological Department of Morris Brown College, Atlanta. Ga.. hut 
he declined the honor because of his preference to remain in the 
pastorate. He is a member of the board of trustees of Wilberforce 
University, Morris Brown College, and Turner Normal Institute. 
He is a member of the hoard of directors of Payne Theological 
Seminary, Wilberforce. (). He has been a delegate to all of tin- 
general conferences that have been held since 18{)6\ 

Honorary Degrees. 

As a recognition of his scholarship and general ability in the 
ministry, some of the hading institutions of learning of his denomi- 
nation have conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
This honor has been conferred upon him by Paul Quinn College, 
Waco. Tex.; Payne Theological Seminary.' Wilberforce. ().. and 
Wilberforce University. 

A Great Work at Avery Chapel. 

The advent of Rev. J. A. Lindsay to the pastorate of Avery 
Chapel A. M. E. Church was one of the most timely occurrences 

in the history of that famous church, for its financial affairs had 
reached such a crisis that immediate relict' was accessary. The 

uimI Of his appointment was made evident ill just a few weeks 

after he had taken char-, of the church when in his first rally he 
collected over $1,200. Under his administration the church has 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 253 

taken on new life; the attendance has more than doubled at some of 
the services, and the finances of the church have looked more encour- 
aging than thev had keen for many years. All of the departments 
of the church have felt the effects of his aggressive and enthusiastic 
temperament, and have fallen in line to make his pastorate one of 
the most successful in the history of the church. 

His Splendid Wife. 

In the year of 1 S J > 1 Rev. Lindsay was united in the holy bonds of 
matrimony to Miss Pearl II. Slade of Griffin, Ga. I lis talented 
and devoted wife was educated at Morris Brown College, Atlanta, 
Ga., and is a woman of the highest culture and intelligence. She 
is of that temperament which makes her an ideal minister's wife, 
and she is endowed with all of those elements of popularity which 
make her husband SO dear to his congregation. She is an artist of 
no mean ability, and she had the honor of winning the first prize in 
two instances for excellence at the Georgia Colored State Fair. 
Four children have keen horn to wife and husband to bring comfort 
and joy into their life. 

A Popular Minister and Race Man. 

Rev. J. A. Lindsay is one of the most popular ministers that has 
ever graced the pastorate of Avery Chapel A. M. E. Church. He 

is an affable gentleman, with a hearty handshake and a cheerful 
smile and word for every one. He has no favorites in his church, 
but he is the humble servant of every man and every woman that 
claims fatherhood in God and brotherhood in mankind. He knows 
all of the peculiarities of the race, and the most tactful manner in 
which to adjust differences that otherwise would tend to divide and 
destroy the race. He is a thorough-going race man, and is ever 
ready to lend his encouragement to enterprises of the race. Fie is an 
able preacher and one whose sermons are replete with wise thought 
and useful suggestions for the elevation and uplift of the race. 
He is one of the most interesting, one of the most wide-awake and 
one of the most progressive ministers with whom Providence has 
ever blessed the city of Memphis, and it may be said of him that he 
is truly an effective and an able worker in the paths of righteousness. 



254 



BEACON LI'; HIS OF THE RACE 




H. II. GARNER 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 255 



//. H. Gamer, Little Rock, Ark. 

Superintendent of Delivery Little Rock Fostoffice. 

HAT the government of the United States is not hostile 
to the appointment of capable Negroes to positions of 
trust and responsibility in its service is demonstrated by 
the number of high positions that are rilled by them in 
the public service. In searching the records to ascertain the names 
of those of the race who are filling the most important offices, our 
minds unconsciously revert to those who hold the most conspicuous 
and the best known positions in the departments of the government 
at Washington ; but there are other positions of great responsibility 
that are not so generally known, but which require the exercise of as 
much judgment and the possession of as much ability as many of the 
positions about which so much is written and said. 

In the city of Little Rock, Ark., a municipality which is right 
in the heart of the South, with all of its traditions respecting the 
Xegro race, there is a responsible officer of the government whose 
official capacity can hardly be duplicated in the service of the 
government, for he is Superintendent of Delivery of the Little Rock 
postoffice, a position that is held by no other Xegro in this coun- 
try, so far as the records show. The name of this worthy citizen 
and government official is Mr. H. H. Garner, one of the race's 
most representative citizens and one of the government's most effi- 
cient servants. 

His Nativity. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the State of Arkansas, 
and first opened his infant eyes in the city of Little Rock, August 
4, 186 k He was born and reared in the capital city of his native 
State, and has risen to his present exalted position of trust and 
responsibility without having to quit the corporate limits of his 
native city. 

His Education. 

The subject is a graduate of the Little Rock High School, and 
went forth from that institution of learning armed with his diploma 
tor service in the year of 1884. In a larger sense he is a graduate 
of the University of Worthy Effort, for he has ever striven to be 
worthy of the highest confidence on the part of his fellowmen. He 
has been a hard worker all his life, and his life is burdened with 
more responsibility now than at any other time in his long and 
active career. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

A Plasterer by Trade. 

While a youth attending the public schools of Little Hock, the 
sub j eel mastered the plasterer's trade during his vacations and fol- 
low. (1 his trade at intervals until he was honored with appointment 
is carrier in the postoffice at Little Kock. Ark. As a plasterer he 
became one of the most? skilled in the City of Roses, and he did 
« onsiderable contract work m that capacity. 



A Pedagogue in Arkansas. 

Among the many accomplishments of the subject may he men- 
tioned the honorable and serviceable one of schoolmaster in his native 
State, for lie taught school in Augusta, Ark., for two years after 
his graduation from the public schools of Little Rock. His career 
S i schoolmaster was cut short by his appointment to a position 
is carrier in the Little Rock postoffice. 

Superintendent of Delivery. 

In the year of 1890 Mr. Garner received his first appointment 
as carrier in the Little Rock postoffice, and served in that capacity 
for ten years, or until the year of 1 <)(>(). He did not play with the 
mail sacks of the government, but he took his duties seriously. He 
became one of the most efficient carriers in the service, and was 
thus in line for promotion at the proper time. In the year of 1900 
he was promoted to a clerkship in the postoffice. and remained in 
that position for two years. In the year of 1902 he was promoted to 
the responsible position of Superintendent of Letter Carriers, and 
served in that capacity until the year of L] 909, when he was pro- 
moted to his present position of Superintendent of Delivery. 

An Honored Delegate. 

The subject has been honored in every possible manner officially 
since he has been connected with the postoffice departmnt. He 
has represented his office as delegate to the National Letter Car- 
riers' Association meetings at Grand Rapids, Mich.. Toledo. (').. 
Scranton, Pa., and Denver, Col. After his elevation to the position 
of Superintendent of Delivery he was (dieted a delegate to the 
National Association of Supervisors of Postoffice Employes, whos. 
meeting was held in Chicago, 111., and be was the only colored offi- 
cial present. 

( )'i'H i H I loNoiis. 

In .addition to his official honors in the service of the govern 
ment, he is Secretary of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows' 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 257 

Building Association of Little Hock. He is also a trustee of West- 
ley Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, and Treasurer of the 
Little Rock Negro Business League. 

His Devoted and Faithful Wife. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Garner is the highest rank- 
ing colored official in the Little Rock postoffice, yet he also fills a 
relationship that is far more exalted than his government position, 
and that is the relationship of devoted husband to his faithful wife. 
On December 19, 1886, Mr. Garner led to the altar Miss Henrietta 
Foster, of Little Rock. Ark. She is a graduate of the Little Rock 
High School and a woman of the highest character and refinement. 
She has contributed in every possible way to advance the success 
of her husband and to make his existence pleasant and happy. She 
is a veritable beam of sunshine to him in all his struggles, and she 
smiles her way to his heart in every misfortune and discourage- 
ment. She is a noble woman, and her devoted husband is happy to 
make this deserved statement concerning her most amiable qualities. 

Their only daughter, Miss Grace Lucile Garner, is a student of 
Philander Smith College. She is a splendid young musician, and 
bids fair to give as good account of herself along intellectual lines 
as her worthy father has given along official lines. 

A Popular and Deserving Man. 

Mr. Garner is one of the most popular men in his native city, 
and his real friends are very numerous. He is of such a tempera- 
ment that no official honor or worldly success can spoil him, and 
if he were elevated to the most exalted office in the gift of the 
nation he would still be the same courteous, kindly and unaffected 
man. In the city of his nativity he is appreciated by all classes, as 
are indeed verv few men of the race, and his word is a svnonvm of 
assurance for the performance of a duty as good as a bond of the 
government. He has a splendid home, a good position, an ideal 
wife and a reasonable share of the goods of this world. Under these 
circumstances he is justified in considering himself a very fortunate 
man. and this fact, in a measure, accounts for the unconscious smile 
of satisfaction that illumines his face, which smile has never been 
known to come off, be the sun shining or the rain falling. 



258 



BE AC ny LI < HITS OF THE RACE 




PR( 'i . |. A. Q. WILLIAMS 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 259 



Prof. J. A. Q. Williams, B.S., J I oil if Springs, Miss. 

Supreme Banker of the United Woodmen Benefit Association. 

T THE beginning of the internecine war that deluged 
this fair republic in blood, there was ushered into exist- 
ence near the ambitious and progressive little town of 
PontotoCj Miss., a being of humble parentage that was 
destined to play a conspicuous part in the welfare and uplift of the 
Negro race, a man whose strength of mind, tireless activity and inde- 
fatigable labors for the progress and elevation of the race have 
written his name in indelible letters on the brightest pages of the 
race's history and erected for himself, in the estimation of a grateful 
people, a monument nearly as enduring as time itself. In the person 
of Professor J. A. Q. Williams the race presents to the world one 
of the brightest examples of energy and success. If his eminently 
successful life is to be explained, the whole grand structure may 
be ascribed to his splendid foresight and his genius for hard and 
unremitting labor. He was endowed by nature with an extraordi- 
nary capacity for work, and it has been the pleasure of his life to 
work up to his greatest capacity at all times and under all circum- 
stances. 

His Education. 

The early educational advantages of the future race leader were 
of the primitive plantation variety, and of the most meager char- 
acter. He began his student career in the public schools of Fayette 
County. Mississippi, and continued his attendance therein until he 
had reached the age of fourteen or fifteen years, when he was pre- 
vailed upon by kind and solicitous friends to go to Holly Springs, 
.Miss., to acquire a good education. The friends that were so inter- 
ested in his welfare were some of the worthy, consecrated students 
of Rust University, who perceived in the earnest and ambitious 
youth the kind of stuff of which strong men and heroes are made. 
The town of Holly Springs. Mississippi, has for many years been 
the educational center for North Mississippi, and in those days of 
yore, as well as at the present time, all educational roads led to 
Holly Springs, where any worthy, ambitious boy would be given 
an opportunity to work and earn a great deal of the cost of his 
maintenance in school. Education was more of a novelty in those 
days than now. and the missionary spirit was more intense than now. 
Rust University and the State Normal School sent out from their 
classic walls many devoted and consecrated teachers, who were so 
deeply interested in the welfare and uplift of the race that they 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

were able to induce hundreds of raw. country youths to leave their 
lioiucs with a burning desire for knowledge. The future race leader 
was one of them. He came from the primitive recesses of Fayette 
County to Holly Springs. Miss., for the sole purpose of getting 
an (ducat ion. He came to Holly Springs in the latter part of the 
70's for the purpose of attending the State Normal School during 
the regime of Professor W. B. Highgate. a scholarly man and emi- 
nent educator of those days. The State Normal School was, as its 
name suggested, an institution of learning under the auspices of the 
State of Mississippi, and was considered by all to be one of the 
best schools of its kind in the State. The subject of this sketch was 
one of the shining student lights of that school, and claimed among 
his intimate friends many of those who subsequently became some 
of the most distinguished men of the South. Professor Williams 
remained a student of the State Normal School until he became a 
member of the senior class when, for reasons satisfactory to him- 
self, he transferred his allegiance to Rust University in the year 
of 1881. 

The student life of the subject of this narrative was beset with 
many difficulties and hardships in the early days. He had to work 
his way in school by diligent service mornings and afternoons in tin- 
families of the good people of Holly Springs, but as soon as he 
was able to pass the examination and qualify in the teachers' pro- 
fession a great deal of the life of drudgery was at an end because 
of his ability to keep school in his vacations. It was the happy 
privilege of Professor Williams to attend college both in the town 
of Holly Springs and in the State of Indiana, in the latter place 
receiving his degree of Bachelor of Science. 

A Professional Teacher for Many Years. 

As soon as Professor Williams had completed his course of educa- 
tion he took up as a life work the great task of training the youth 
of the race. He desired to accomplish some real good for his 
poeple, and he earnestly believed that his opportunities for doing 
good were infinitely greater in the teachers' profession than in any 
other profession. While a student attending college he taught school 
in vacation times for several years, but his permanent career as a 
schoolmaster began with the principalship of the city public school 
of Holly Springs, where he successfully held forth until his resig- 
nation to accept a position as teacher in the State Normal School at 
Holly Springs. He was for three years an honored member of the 
faculty ot the State Normal School, and succeeded in impressing 
his personality upon those that were thrown in the sphere of his 

influence. It has been one of the cardinal principles of the life of 



/»•/:./< <>\ i.i'.ins or 1 m: i:.i< i: 261 

Professor Williams never to be satisfied until he has done his best 
to reach the top and has succeeded in doing so. Having been for 
three years one of the instructors of the State Normal School, the 
voice of responsibility and duty called him to a higher professional 
station when he accepted the call from Rust University to enter its 
faculty and teach mathematics. He went to Rust University and 
labored as teacher for thirteen years, a period of time that is almost 
unprecedented in the annals of the college. He was a capable, 
earnest and faithful teacher, and thousands of worthy men and 
young women receiving from him the inspiration and determination 
to aspire to a useful and noble life. Having served faithfully for 
thirteen years as a teacher in Rust University, the pressing respon- 
sibilities of business matters outside of the college necessitated his 
resignation from the faculty of the college in order to devote his 
whole time and energies to the development of the business of fra- 
ternal insurance. 

Always Resigned His Position. 

During his whole career as teacher he invariably resigned in 
order to receive a better appointment. This is the usual experience 
of this worthy and succssful man. If a man has ability out of the 
ordinary there will always be a ready market for his talents. The 
services of Professor Williams were always in demand, and his 
every wish along professional lines was an open sesame to many of 
the best positions in the State. He has by this time probably ter- 
minated his professional career in the school room, but his real 
interest in the success and welfare of the teachers' profession will 
end only with the last breath of life in him. The many years of 
constant work in the school room have endeared the profession to 
him. and there will never come a time when the faithful teacher will 
not receive his greatest sympathy, choicest benedictions and most 
fervent prayers. 

A Farsighteo Man. 

One of the strongest elements in the character of Professor Wil- 
liams, and one that has had wonders to do with his phenomenal 
success in life, is his farsightedness, with which he is endowed in 
the superlative degree. Farsightedness itself is one of the most 
precious gifts of the intellect, but when it is harmoniously com- 
bined with the spirit of optimism, it is of inestimable value. Far- 
sightedness lights up the way. but optimism makes us confident of 
the possibilities of the future. Many years ago there was hardly 
another citizen of Holly Springs that had any great amount of 
faith in either the educational or commercial future of the town. 



262 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Nature itself, when dressed up in its best garb, is not overly attrac- 
tive around Holly Springs, Miss. Those frowning and forbidding- 
looking hills, tin)-,, cavernous red gullies, and those desert-like 
wastes of Sand are not calculated to make the average man over- 
confident and highly optimistic concerning the prospects of the town. 
To the ordinary lay mind it seems an utter impossibility to restore 
the chemical elements that have for decades been lost to the soil 
around I loll v Springs. In spite of all the seemingly natural disad- 
vantages of the region around Holly Springs. Professor Williams 
never did cease to have confidence in her future. When others were, 
figuratively speaking, despondent and wailing in sack cloth and 
ashes about the prospects of the town, the professor was a source of 
perpetual optimism. He never for a moment lost faith in the future 
of the towTi. Many years ago he began quietly to buy up at a nomi- 
nal cost a great deal of the land on tin borders of Rust University 
and in other sections of the town. No one seemingly eared for the 
land, and its owners seemed overjoyed to sell the no-account land 
to deluded purchasers even at a great sacrifice. Some of the good 
friends of Professor Williams ridiculed him for throwing his hard- 
earned money away by investing it in lands so worthless and God- 
forsaken that a crop of disturbance could not be raised on them. Hut 
the farsighted professor went on in the even tenor of his way. buy- 
ing a bit of land here and a bit of land elsewhere, until he had 
bought up much of the land in the environs of Rust University. 

As the years began to roll by new life and vigor were injected 
into the old and decrepit body of the municipality of Holly 
Springs, and the town began to show many evidences of growth 
and prosperity. With the erection of a new college and the cons. 
quent enlargement of the educational facilities of the town, it 
became more and more an intellectual muter tor the colored people 
of the Stale. Also, with tin advent of' industrial enterprises and 
plants to the city, its commercial importance has correspondingly 
increased. With this combined educational and industrial awak- 
ening on the part of the people of the city an impetus was given to 
trade and Speculation in every direction. People began to buy lots 
tor the purpose of building homes, and in an incredibly short time 
real estate began to treble and quadruple in value, and the land that 
had been practically given away began to take on the importance 
and dignity of a gold mine. Thus it was that the sagacious fore- 
sight of Professor Williams began to bear the rich results. 

If the history of many of the colossal fortunes that have been 
accumulated in this country should be looked into. \l would be found 
that in flu majority of instances they were the result of just such 
wise foresight on the pari of the pioneer citizens as is exhibited 
in the case of Professor Williams. Other citizens of the town of 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 263 

Holly Springs had the same opportunity to purchase those hinds 
that were purchased by the professor, and many of them had about 
as much money as he did. In those days the subject of this sketch 
was not the capitalist and land haron that he is today, but. on the 
contrary, he was a poor and struggling school teacher, with a pen- 
chant for saving every possible penny for the rainy day. His salary 
was small and his family had to be cared for and educated, yet he 
took advantage of every opportunity to buy land at a sacrifice and 
held the same in reserve for better times to come. It was no easy 
matter for a man of his small income to stint himself and family 
for an investment that seemed to be fraught with so much uncer- 
tainty. But he did so. and his wise foresight his been instrumental 
in building up for him one of the largest fortunes among the col- 
ored people of the entire State. He is gradually selling much of the 
land he had purchased at a mere nominal cost, and is receiving 
from its sale a princely profit. He has the last laugh on the wise- 
acres that presumed to question the wisdom of his business judgment 
when many years ago he began his spectacular career as a dealer in 
real estate. 

The Founder of the United Woodmen Benefit Association. 

One of the most enduring monuments erected to the memory of 
the worthy subject of this sketch is the great fraternity, the United 
Woodmen Benefit Association, of which he is the honored founder. 
This great organization, which numbers among its members a host 
of intelligent and progressive people, and operates in a half dozen 
States of this Southland, is a monument to the many years of inde- 
fatigable labor on the part of its founder. Professor J. A. Q. Wil- 
liams. An organization of its character and influence among the 
good people of this Southland could not have reached the acme of 
excellence in a day, but it was a matter of growth and evolution. 
Back of every successful enterprise or organization there must be 
one directing and guiding hand, from which it derives inspiration 
and final success. Every successful organization of the race is a 
monument to the expended energies and personal sacrifices of some 
individual or set of individuals. A man will get out of life only 
an equivalent of what he has put into it in the shape of untiring 
energy and brains. The grand foresight of Professor Williams is 
evident in the very manner in which he set about to organize the 
United Woodmen Benefit Association. He knew the difficulties 
which always arise in the founding and organizing of a fraternal 
organization, and the gauntlet of criticism and prejudice through 
which both the organization and its founders must run in order to 
reach the goal of success. So Professor Williams in a quiet and 



264 /■'/:./' ON LIGHTS OF THE BA( E 

earnest way endeavored to secure the Interest and co-operation of 
men of standing and influence among the people, and gradually lay 

the foundation of the great fraternity which today stands almost 
second to none in the sphere of its influence and benefaction. He 
first began the work of laying the foundation .and perfecting the 
organization of the United Woodmen Benefit Association in the year 
of 1893, and for live long years his labors were unremitting night 
and day to prepare and establish on a linn foundation the under- 
taking that was so near and dear to him. In the course of time the 
efforts of an earnest, honorable man will begin to hear fruit, for 
persistence in a worthy cause combined with honesty of purpose was 
never more potent in human affairs than it is today. So in the year 
of 18.08, after five long years of untiring Labor, Professor Williams 
had the pleasure of seeing the first tangible fruits of his labors. 
He had succeeded in enlisting the favor, interest and eo-operation 
of a few honorable, race-loving men like Lawyer H. H. Avant. of 
Helena. Arkansas, and ex-United States Senator H. R. Revels. 
deceased. This worthy triumvirate were the potential factors behind 
the successful organization of the United Woodmen Benefit Associa- 
tion, .and the memory of each one of these splendid race leaders 
should he held in perpetual appreciation and reverence by those 
who have been recipients of the blessing of their labors and sacri- 
fices. 

The successful launching of a great fraternity is not only a 
matter of unremitting labor for a period of many years, but it 
entails great expense. It required several thousand dollars to organ- 
ize and secure a charter for the United Woodmen Benefit Associa- 
tion. The founder of the order was not then so blessed with the 
goods of this world to the extent that he now is blessed, but he had 
such undying faith in the future of the organization that he was 
willing to make any reasonable sacrifice to carry out the plans of 
his life. Inasmuch as he did not have the necessary cash with 
which to secure a charter .and begin operations. Professor Williams 
and his fellow townsman. Dr. II. R. Revels, signed notes and thus 
pledged their honor in order to secure the money with which to 
purchase the charter and put the organization upon a working basis. 
It was a great day in the lives of the founder and his tew faithful 
workers when they saw the labors of many years arrow up into a 
tangible reality. The founder and his colleagues selected Holly 
Springs, Mississippi, for the location of the home office of the 
fraternity, and the fraternity's first camp. Alpha No. l. was organ- 
ized in Holly Springs by Prof. .1. A. (). Williams. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 265 

The Object of the Order. 

The object of the United Woodmen Benefil Association, as sel 
down in its articles of incorporation, is "to combine all persons of 
sound bodily health, exemplary habits and good moral character. 
between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, into a fraternal and 
benevolent order; to provide funds for their relief, to comfort the 
sick and cheer the unfortunate by attentive ministration in time 
of sorrow and distress; to educate its members in social and intel- 
lectual matters; to encourage each other in business; to assist each 
other in obtaining employment; to promote fraternal love and unity; 
and to create a fund from which, after reasonable and satisfactory 
proof of the death of a beneficiary member, who has complied with 
the lawful requirements of the order, a sum not to exceed one thou- 
sand dollars ($1,000), shall be paid to his or her legal representa- 
tives dependent upon him or her as he or she may direct." The 
writer submits this extract in order to show the principles underlying 
the fraternity. They are ideal in their nature, and are sufficient to 
satisfy every possible want of a human being in the course of a 
lifetime, if faithfully adherred to. They run the whole gamut of 
human necessity and they are a happy combination of humane and 
practical ideas. 

The Growth of the Order. 

The growth of the United Benefit Association has been mar- 
velous, both from the standpoint of numbers and the amount that 
is paid to its members as a death benefit. Beginning with a mere 
handful of members in the year of 1899 and operating in the State 
of Mississippi alone, this great fraternity has grown by leaps and 
bounds, yea, by two leaps and two bounds, until it now has ten 
thousand members and operates not only in the State of Mississippi, 
but also in the States of Arkansas. Alabama and Georgia. Its 
death benefit policy has grown from the insignificant sum of fifty- 
three dollars ($53), which was its first payment in the year of 1900, 
to one thousand dollars ($1,000) at the present time. This is indeed 
a wonderful growth in the period of a decade, and shows the pro- 
gressive and honorable character of the men that have been at the 
head of this organization and led it onward and upward to success 
and victory. In comparison with other fraternal organizations in 
the State of Mississippi, and other States of the South, the United 
Woodmen Benefit Association suffers nothing in any of the depart- 
ments that make fraternal organizations strong in popular favor. 
Its growth has probably been as phenomenal as any of the fraterni- 
ties of the race. Its death benefit is the maximum, as far as the 
records of the various fraternal organizations show. The organi- 



266 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

zation pays its death b< nefit policies very promptly, and this busi- 
ness-like procedure on the part of the officers of the order has 
greatly commended it to popular favor. The United Woodmen 
Benefit Association is a business organization as well as a benevolent 
one, and promptness of payments is one of the cardinal obligations 
of the ord.r. In the saddest hours of bereavement the prompt 
remittance of the death benefit will not only assuage much of the 
grief of the wife, husband or loved one. but it will minister to needs 
as imperative as will ever come into a human being's life. 

Class and Character of Membership. 

As to tlit- class and character of the members of the United Wood- 
men Benefit Association, many of them are of the most intellectual 
and progressive types of the race. The founder of the organiza- 
tion. Professor .1. A. Q. Williams, realizes the fact that intelligence 
.ml character form the basis of growth in all organized life, and 
there is no surer way in which to encompass the failure or death of 
any enterprise or organization than by appealing to the ignorance 
of the indiscriminate masses of any people. It is often the cast- 
that a mere transitory success is gained in this manner, but there 
will he no substantial .and enduring growth. The order that is 
known far and wide as the United Woodmen Benefit Association 
numbers among its members some of the most gifted men and 
women of the race. Consecrated ministers of the gospel, school- 
masters of ability, successful business men. farmers in independent 
circumstances, professional men of eminence in the various walks 
•>t lite, and worthy and honorable working men. all form a veri- 
table Macedonian phalanx in this invincible army of men and women 
that are so vitally interested in tin social, intellectual and business 
welfare ot the race. No .aspersion can be cast upon the character 
and intelligence of the great body of faithful and earnest men and 
women that tonn the bone and sinew of this organization. 

The Neeb fob Fraternities. 

As to the imperative need ot' fraternities among the members of 
the race, then- is great di\<rsity of opinion. However, it is the 
consensus ot' opinion among the majority ot' intelligent representa- 
tives of the race that tin benefit of fraternities ot' the race has been 
proven to be tar greater than the injury to the interest ot' the race. 
Owing to the tact that the race is yet an infant race, having hardly 

< mi rged from he swaddling clothes of its en ilization, it is extremely 
difficult for the race to adapt itself to the complex conditions of 
modern civilization without careful assistance and guidance on the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 267 

part of sonic constituted authority. The institution of slavery put 
a blight on the race that only the light and intelligence of the teem- 
ing centuries to conic will be able to destroy. It' the problems of 
modern life are such as baffle the intelligence and wits of ni.ii oi 
the most thorough education, what must he the present difficult 
problems of existence to those unfortunate ones who are able neither 
by birth nor education to cope with them? The fact that the masses 
of the race are generally careless and improvident of the rainy day 
necessitates some regulated system whereby their wants may be 
jealously guarded and provided for. The problem of sickness. 
disease and death is a serious matter with any class of people, but 
especially with the poorer classes of any people. The cost of liv- 
ing and procuring the barest necessaries of life is so great that it 
forms a menace to the prosperity of the nation itself. What, then, 
must be the condition of the poor man who has never been rigidly 
taught the principles of economy and thrift? Under present eco- 
nomic conditions fraternal organizations have been a Godsend to 
the race, and especially to the poor classes. They have brought 
success to the needy and comfort to the suffering; they have stood 
vigil over the couch of the stricken and diseased, and nursed them 
b«ck to the blessings of health, strength and happiness. They have 
buried in comfort and decency a host of loved ones that have passed 
away and saved the bodies of thousands from interment in pauper's 
graves. They have brought relief to the widows and orphans in 
their bereavement and rescued thousands from abject poverty and 
dependence. By the timely payment of the death benefit they have 
dried up the tears of apprehension, even though the tears of grief 
should continue to course down the cheeks of the widowed and 
orphaned ones. The princely benefit that the reputable and respon- 
sible fraternities pay to their members is a substantial consideration 
that neither criticism nor ridicule can destroy. Fraternal statistics 
show that the fraternal organizations of this country are paying out 
for sick and death benefits a sum total of not less than fifty million 
dollars ($,50,000,000) annually to their members. This is an enor- 
mous amount of money, and is capable of doing an incalculable 
amount of good. 

Credit to the Founoer. 

Prof. J. A. Q. Williams is the founder of the great organization 
that is known as the United Woodmen Benefit Association, and 
whatever of inspiration and strength that has been revealed in the 
operations of this fraternity is a monument to his untiring labors. 
It has been the privilege of very few men. nearly singly and alone, 
to build such a monument to humanity as the founder of this order 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

has Micci -(led in 1 uilding. The order has penetrated the utmost 
regions in the State of Mississippi and adjacent States and carried 
the blessings of intelligence and benevolence to generations that 
are unborn. Professor Williams is Supreme Banker of the organiza- 
tion, and carefully Looks after the financial affairs of the order. It 
is needless to elaborate on the fact that the professor is one of the 
ablest and one of the most successful financiers of the race. It is 
reasonable to suppose that a man who has displayed so much ability 
and success in the management of his personal fortune would b< 
successful in the management of the fortune of others. The record 
of Professor Williams in the administration of the affairs of his 
exalted office is such that the organization has experienced a pros- 
perity marly without parallel in the annals of fraternity life. This 
in an age of the business man and financier, and no enterprise or 
organization should trust its future to the judgment of inexperienced 
and irresponsible men. 

The J. A. Q. Williams Land Company, of Memphis, Tennessee. 

Reference has already been made to the genius of Professor J. 
A. Q. Williams as a successful dealer in real estate in the town of 
Holly Springs. Mississippi, but his real estate operations in his 
home town have been a mere bagatelle in comparison with the colos- 
sal character of his real estate operations in the city of Memphis. 
While the city of Memphis has for the List two decades been in the 
throes of a substantial real estate boom and millions of dollars have 
been risked in legitimate speculations by the financiers and capital- 
ists of the white race, yet it has remained for a Mississippian of 
color to come to the city of Memphis and inaugurate the most sen- 
sational era in realty transactions in the history of the race. Hun- 
dreds of attractive and valuable land subdivisions have been formed 
and opened up to settlement by white real estate syndicates, but 
never before this time had any extensive and valuable tract of land 
been opend up by colored capitalists for tin- benefit of colored 
people. The only big land syndicate that has ever been organized 
and promoted by colored men in the city of Memphis is the com- 
pany thai has recently been brought into existence by the genius 
.uid wealth of Professor ,1. A. Q. Williams. The .1. A. Q. Williams 
band Company of Memphis is a chartered realty company, and is 
doing luisiii, ss under an authorized capital of $50,000. The com- 
pany owns twenty-one ( -J 1 ) acres of land a short distance south 
from the corporate limits of Memphis. The land in question is 
situated in close proximity to the hundreds of manufacturing plants 
in the suburbs of South Memphis, which give to the city its pre- 
eminence as .-, manufacturing center. There are very few citizens 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 269 

of Memphis that are fully informed as to the great manufacturing 
possibilities of the city. The realty of the J. A. Q. Williams Land 
Company is situated close to one of the greatest manufacturing 
sections "of the South. Of the hundreds of manufacturing enter- 
prises that have been brought to the city of Memphis in the past 
decade or two the majority of them have located in that section of 
the suburb that is in close* proximity to the J. A. Q. Williams Land 
Company. The property of this company is in the shape of a great 
triangular surface, comprising twenty-one acres of land, all ot 
which has been divided into small lots for the real estate market. 
In the whole subdivision there are about three hundred and fifty 
(350) lots, 20 feet by 100 feet each. These lots are now on the 
market for prospective purchasers, and are being sold at a cost 
ranging from $210 to $250 per lot, according to location. The 
financial strength of the company is such that its promoters are able 
to offer these lots on terms that will put them in reach of the poorest 
classes of the race. The property has certain natural advantages, 
both as to location and drainage, and it is one of the most valuable 
tracts of land in the region around Memphis for the use of the poor 
and laboring classes of people. These lots will prove of inestimable 
value as homes for the poor and deserving classes of the race who 
work in the hundreds of manufactories in that section of the suburbs 
of Memphis. It is doubtful if there is another land subdivision in 
the South that is more happily situated than the J. A. Q. Williams 
Land Company's subdivision. Situated nearly under the shadow 
of the smokestacks of the various manufacturing plants of that 
section, the buyers of lots in this subdivision would be close to their 
work and would not have to suffer the inconvenience that is incident 
to a long distance from one's home to his place of work. The price 
of these lots is in reach of the poorest man that is ambitious to 
own a roof over the heads of his loved ones and those that are near 
and dear to him. This is a golden opportunity for men of small 
means and small earning capacity to purchase a home for their 
wives and children, for with the ownership of a home a man takes 
upon himself the dignity of American citizenship. Every man 
owes it to himself to safeguard the welfare of his family by work- 
ing, sacrificing and struggling to provide for it a home. If a man 
provides a home for his wife and loved ones there can be no doubt 
of the fact that he loves them. The three hundred and fifty lots 
into which this vast tract of land has been divided are large enough 
to locate a multitude of people. Every effort will be made by the 
owners of this subdivision to provide every convenience that will be 
necessary for the comfort and happiness of those who will purchase 
lots in the subdivision. There will probably be erected a pavilion 
for amusement purposes and a small park for the public convenience 
of the people of the subdivision. 



270 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

An Enterprising Business Man. 

Professor Williams has fur years been one of the busiest and 
one of the hardest worked men in the State of Mississippi. Between 
the labors of founding and putting upon a substantial basis the 

United Woodmen Benefit Association and the prosecution of his 
many business activities along other lines, he has not known a day 
of absolute rest for many years. The professor is of an active, 

sanguine, ambitious temperament, and believes in doing things all 
the time. His success as a business man has few parallels in the 
history of the race. He has a genius for organization and com- 
bining great interests, and if he had been blessed with the privileges 
and opportunities of a member of the dominant race, he would have 
contested financial supremacy with the greatest financiers and capi- 
talists of the country. If a man can accomplish such marvelous 
results with the handicaps under which he has had to labor, what 
would he not be capable of achieving under favorable conditions? 
He is one of the high-class, representative men of the town of Holly 
Springs, and he is popular alike with both races. He is a man whose 
word and judgment have a high rating in the business world, anil 
his signature to a note is just as safe as the income from a govern- 
ment bond. He is a stockholder in the North Mississippi Fair 
Association; he is a stockholder of the People's Bank of Holly 
Springs. He is a director of the I'nion Guaranty Company of Mis- 
sissippi, a corporation that was recently organized in the State and 
capitalized at $50,000 for the purpose of doing a general life insur- 
ance and bonding business. Professor Williams is President of the 
J. A. Q. Williams Land Company of Memphis. Tennessee, and the 
genius that made this great land company a possibility. 

A Large Property Holder. 

Professor Williams is one of the largest land owners in the town 
of Holly Springs. In that city In- is the owner of nine pieces of 
improved property and from ten to fifteen pieces of unimproved 
property. He is also the owner of one hundred acres of farming 
land in Marshall County. Miss. Hut it is in the city oi' Memphis 
that the business capacity of Professor Williams is shown to the 
greatest advantage. Just a few years ago witnessed his first appear- 
ance in the city of Memphis as a prospective promoter and real 
-state capitalist. He came to Memphis to look into the investment 
situation in realty matters. He came to the city in a quiet manner, 
without his advent being accompanied by any beating of tom toms 
or flashing of the calcium light. He carefully weighed the main 
advantages of the city of Memphis as an investment center, and he 
came to the conclusion that he would be warranted in making the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 271 

city the center of his real estate business and investment activities. 
It was the same old story of success over again. He bought up con- 
siderable property at sacrifice values for ready cash, and repeated 
such business transactions at short intervals until he is now rated 
as one of the largest property owners of the city of Memphis. He 
is the owner of twenty-six pieces of improved property and thirteen 
pieces of unimproved property. One of his more pretentious pieces 
of property is the substantial building in which is located the Union 
Drug Store. It is a two-story brick building, and is estimated to be 
worth in the neighborhood of $15,000. While it is largely a matter 
of guesswork to estimate any man's wealth, vet to those that know 
the many business investments with which he is connected and the 
extraordinary success that he has achieved in nearly everything 
that he has undertaken, his wealth closely borders on a sum that can 
not be expressed by less than six figures. Of one thing there can 
be no doubt: Professor Williams is one of the wealthiest colored 
men of the State of Mississipi. In the suburbs of Memphis alone 
the value of his realty possessions would be considered a comfort- 
able fortune for any man. The wonderful financial success of 
Professor Williams in the manipulation of real estate in the city 
of Memphis has been a revelation to the colored people of that 
city, because they had never seen such spectacular dealings in real 
estate and such meteoric rise to fame and fortune. 

The Supreme Banker's Office. 

Professor Williams is Supreme Banker of the United Woodmen 
Benefit Association, and in that capacity he looks after the financial 
affairs of the order. His office in Holly Springs is fitted up with 
the necessary equipment and clerical attendants to enable the 
accounts of the order to be settled with speed and accuracy. 

His Lamented Wife. 



In the month of August. 1885, the worthy subject of this sketch 
was united in marriage to Miss Ella Wheatley of Holly Springs. 
Miss. She was educated at Rust University, and for six years she 
was an efficient and faithful teacher in the public schools of her 
State. She was a woman of splendid judgment and a faithful and 
interested counselor in the business affairs of her husband. She wis 
economical, thrifty and ambitious to gain a firm foothold in lit.. 
She had a motherly determination and ambition for her children, 
and her labors and sacrifices materially aided herself and husband 
to provide for their education and necessities. It was not the will 
of benign Providence for her to live to see the full fruition of her 



272 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

hopes, hut she did live long enough to rejoice because of their suc- 
cess. The noble wife and devoted mother departed this life Decem- 
ber 15, 1909, triumphant in the faith which she had long before 
embraced and a shining example of a useful and serviceable woman. 

His Children. 

Miss Shirley Kate Williams, the only daughter, is a student of 
the collegiate department of Rust University, and a young woman 
of many virtues and great promise. Of the other two children. .Mr. 
Wheatley Williams is a skilled artisan and Dr. G. L. Williams is 
one of the leading physicians of Memphis. Tennessee. Professor 
Willi ams is a successful man from the standpoint of actual achieve- 
m< nt and a bright example of manhood and honor for the colored 
American youth to emulate. Bv his own indefatigable labors he has 
built up a fortune from nothing to one of such proportions as to 
excite the wonder of those that were acquainted with him in the 
days of a score of years ago. His success has been so uniform 
that everything that he has touched has been transformed into gold. 
At first thought the professor's success may be attributed to luck, 
but the only luck in the whole transactions covering a period of 
years was that luck which comes from the possession of a good 
judgment and the practice of the golden rule. The life of Pro- 
fessor J. A. Q. Williams is an open book, on whose pages all may 
read the lessons which lead to success, wealth and honor. 




BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



273 



Rev. Harvey A. Onque, A.M., S. T. 11., New Orleans, La. 



Si « RETARY OF Vol N<; Men's CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 

HE reverend subject of this narrative is not a Frenchman, 
as his name would suggest, notwithstanding the fact 
that he is living in a French city, but he is an everyday 
American citizen, proud of both the opportunity and 
ability to do his daily duties according to the light of his conscience 
and reason. He has but recently become a citizen of the Crescent 




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REV. H. A. ONOl'E 



City, but he has stamped his personality upon the institutions of the 
city of his adoption in no uncertain manner. 

His Birthplace ami Mother. 

Rev. Onque was born in Cranberry, New Jersey, January 2, lSu'o". 
and at that time he enjoyed the distinction of being a new baby in 
the very beginning of a new year. 



274 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

His mother, Mrs. Gertrude Onque, was a highly Intelligent woman 

and used to read to her son when he was a mere child. She was 
prayerfully solicitous that her son should be an educated man, and 
she did what she could to put his infant feet in the pathway up the 
hill of learning and righteousness. She lived to see the answer to 
her prayers, and her son not only a man of education, hut one of 
the leading divines of his denomination. She departed this life in 
the year of 1899, happy in the knowledge that she had done her 
whole duty by the dear one whom Providence had committed to 
her care. 

His Education. 

He attended the puhlic schools of his native town until he hid 
advanced to the upper grades, and in the year of 1889 he matricu- 
lated at Wilherforce University in the incumbency of Dr. S. T. 
Mitchell as president. 

The worthy subject graduated from Wilherforce University in 
the year of 1894. In the summer of his graduation he wis a mem- 
ber of a musical aggregation that was generally known as "The 
Seven Wilherforce Students." a concert company which toured the 
Middle West and a considerable part of the Hast. It has been his 
good fortune to sing well, for nature has blessed him with a voice 
of unusual sweetness and power. In the autumn of the year of his 
graduation from Wilherforce University he wis Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Young Men's Christian Association of Philadelphia, Pa., 
and he was promoted from that station to the general secretaryship 
of the Goff'e Street Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association 
of New Haven, Connecticut. 

In the year of 1896 he entered Lincoln University and took a 
course in the languages and theology. He completed his theologi- 
cal course in that school and was awarded the degree ,,f Bachelor of 
Sacred Theology. In connection with his completion of the course 
in theology and the classics he was honored with the degree of Mas- 
ter of Arts in the year of 1900. 

A Minister in the South. 

In the month of February, 1900, before he graduated with the 
degree of A. M.. he accepted the call to the pastorate of Allison 
Presbyterian Church of Little Rock, Arkansas, to which charge he 
went to labor directly after graduation. His church is a member 
of the White River Presbytery of Arkansas. He was the pastor 
of this church until the year of l!">7. when he resigned to accept the 
position of Sabbath School Missionary for the State of' Arkansas 
and tilled the same lor three vears. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 275 

While he was pastor of Allison Presbyterian Church in the city 
of Little Rock, he built a commodious brick church for the parish- 
ioners, and thus put the church upon a substantial basis in more 
respects than one. For the three years of his service in Sabbath 
School work in the State of Arkansas his duties were to organize 
Sabbath Schools and instruct the various schools in the latest and 
best methods of the work. His labors were under the Board of 
Publication and Sabbath Schools, with headquarters in Philadelphia. 

During his ten years of faithful and consecrated work in the 
State of Arkansas he was honored by the Presbytery with every 
office in its gift. He was Moderator of the Presbytery, and he was 
a Commissioner to the General Assembly at Los Angeles, California, 
in the year of 1903. There was not a preacher in the State of 
Arkansas connected with the Presbytery that was more generally 
known and more highly honored than the reverend subject of this 
sketch, and there was profound regret felt throughout the State 
when the reverend gentleman severed his connection with the work 
of the denomination in the State. 

Secretary of Y. M. C. A. 

In the month of November, 1909. Rev. Onque accepted the call 
to the general secretaryship of the Colored Young Men's Christian 
Association of the city of New Orleans, La., where he is now labor- 
ing. His former experience in the work was of great benefit to 
him in his new field of activity, for he was able immediately to take 
the work in hand with a certain degree of success. Of the Y. M. C. 
A. of this country there are few. if any. as successful as the one 
in the city of New Orleans, and it may be of interest to give some 
of the details of the work and the facilities provided its members. 

The association has a building of its own erected at a total cost 
of $9,000. It represents the most intense efforts of some of the 
best men and women of the race, who put their shoulders to the 
plow and gave both their time and their labor to bring this monu- 
ment of their work into existence. The building has an auditorium, 
a reading room and library, a reception room, a gymnasium, an 
amusement room, a lunch room, the General Secretary's office, the 
sleeping apartments of the General Secretary, and the kitchen. In 
rear yard of the association building there is the Y. M. C. A. park, 
with platforms for physical work. There is in connection with the 
work of the association a large physical culture class under two 
experienced directors. The senior class in physical culture is under 
the direction of Mr. George Floyd as chief and Mr. Clarence .lanes 
as assistant. The junior class in physical culture is under the direct 
instruction and supervision of' Rev. H. A. Onque. In the physical 



276 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

work of the association they use all of the facilities and parapher- 
nalia of tin- modern, up-to-date Young Men's Christian Association, 
sucli as Indian clubs, dumb bells, horizontal bars, punching bags and 
the like. There is training given in the manly art of self-defense, 
and there is a baseball team under the direction of Mr. Edward 
Langhorn; also, a trark team is in evidence. 

A 1 kw of the Pillars ok the Asso< iation. 

The man whose efforts and sacrifices have meant most for the 
association is Dr. Robert E. Jones, the able editor and distinguished 
divine of the Crescent City. He is the editor of the Southwestern 
Christian Advocate, and one of the most orthodox race men in tin- 
wide world. He is the president of the Board of Directors, and his 
efforts are largely responsible for the success of the work of this 
time. Dr. L. T. Burbridge, one of the hading physicians and citi- 
zens of the city of New Orleans, is vice-president of the Board of 
Directors. Prof. A. H. Colwell. a clerk in the customs department 
of the United States government, is secretary of the Board of Direc- 
tors. Mr. E. B. Bell, a worthy and useful citi/en. is the honored 
treasurer of the Hoard of Directors. 

In connection with the work of the association is the Woman's 
Auxiliary, of sixty of the best women in the city of New Orleans, 
representing tin- different denominations of the city. They have 
already worked like Trojans and wire successful in raising over 
two thousand dollars for the cause of the association. They are 
grand and noble women and no cause can fail of success with such 
devoted women working in its behalf. Of the Woman's Auxiliary. 
Mrs. Cora Ford is president, Mrs. P. II. V. Dejoie, \ ice president; 
Miss Emma Davis. Secretary, and Mrs. T. B. Brown, Treasurer. 

His Lamented Wife. 

On the 19th of June, in the year of 1901, Rev. H. A. Onque was 

united in marriage to Miss Mary Olivia Patterson, of Philadelphia. 
Pa., now deceased. She was a woman of splendid education and 
great culture, and was for a period of ten years one of the leading 
teachers in the public schools of the city of Wilmington. Del. She 
came South to share the work with her devoted husband in the city 
of Little Hock, hut fate decreed that she should not live to see the 
full fruition of her husband's labors in tin- Southland. 

Addend \. 

Rev. Onque is a gentleman of charming personality, and he is 
as simple and unpretentious as he is charming in disposition. lb 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 177 

is a man that is noted for his earnestness in everything that he 

undertakes, and if real, conscientious work can achieve the desired 
end. success will he assured. He is a man whose good qualities 
of mind and heart are appreciated by all. and his experience both 
in religious and social circles has been one of satisfaction and pleas- 
ure. He is a man of wide and varied experience in the Christian 
world, and lie stands for everything that is best and purest in 
church life. He is a scholar, a splendid speaker, a worthy gentle- 
man and a Christian worker of indefatigable zeal, and his efforts 
in the cause of peace and righteousness have already received their 
due reward. 




::^ 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




I. T. MONTGOM1 R \ 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 279 

Isaiah T . Montgomery, Mound Bayou, Miss. 

Founder of Mound Bayou, Miss. 

HE world has ever accorded to the Anglo-Saxon race the 
distinction of being the foremost of all races in the will- 
ingness of its members to sail unknown seas, penetrate 
dangerous wilds and carry to virgin regions the blessings 
of human settlement, development and progress. While the Anglo- 
Saxon race has done many things to merit the great compliment that 
has so generally been bestowed upon it. yet in many isolated in- 
stances members of the Negro race have braved the perils and dan- 
gers of forest, jungle, disease and death in order to spread the bless- 
ings of civilization. Among the members of the Negro race that may 
be considered in the light of a real founder of a community for the 
race no one is worthier of greater appreciation, praise and honor 
than the able and progressive race leader whose name graces the 
title page of this sketch. Hon. Isaiah T. Montgomery, the founder 
of Mound Bayou. Miss. 

Borx in the Days of Servitude. 

The worthy subject of this sketch was born about thirty miles 
south of Vicksburg. Miss., on the Hurricane Plantation, in Warren 
County, May '21. 18i7. He was a slave of Mr. Joseph Davis, the 
eldest brother of the lamented president of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, Hon. Jefferson Davis, and his connection with the brother 
of the man whose memory still lives most sacred in the hearts of the 
people of this Southland has added much interest to the subject 
whose merits along lines of real achievement entitle him to the same 
amount of appreciation and honor. 

Benjamin T. Montgomery, His Father. 

If the subject of this sketch is entitled to receive any commenda- 
tion from his countrymen for services rendered in the cause ot 
human progress, he is simply following in the line that was written 
in indelible letters by his talented father, Mr. Benjamin T. Mont- 
gomery. His father was born in the State of Virginia, and was 
taught the secrets of school and books by his young master, who was 
one of his best friends. By the aid of the weird and flickering 
light of pine knots his master taught him to trace Letters and read. 
The training that was thus secretly given him by his youthful 
master gave him a good start on the intellectual road of life, and 



280 DEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

he finally Incline one of the most Learned slaves that was ever in 
servitude. He Learned enough to become a skilled civil engineer, 
a first-class bookkeeper and accountant, and a versatile, .all-round 
mail. His rare ability proved of invaluable benefit to bis master 

and merited the master's every confidence. He was given unusual 
privileges by bis master and used bis privileges wisely. He kept 
store tor himself and was patronized by bis master. During Un- 
civil war .Mr. Joseph Davis, his master, had to refugee, and Left bis 
plantation in care of the father of the subject of this sketch, but 
the father himself had to emigrate to Cincinnati, Ohio, to escape 
some of the terrors of early reconstruction. After the war had 
ended he returned to the Davis plantation and kept a general store. 

The Sibject's Education. 

The subject's father taught him to read and write, and instructed 
him in the principles of arithmetic until he bad been advanced to 
long division. When quite a youth bis unusual looks and precocity 
.attracted the attention of Mr. Davis, who bad him transferred to 
his own house to serve as office boy. Mr. Davis was a retired lawyer 
and politician, and kept in close touch with the leading public men 
of bis day and time. The new office boy arranged alphabetically 
the paper.-, which bad accumulated for several years, copied many 
letters and looked after the general literary work of his master 
until the close of the civil war. In all of his copying of official 
documents he bad to write a uniform, clear and clean hand, and in 
this manner the subject became one of the most famous penmen 
of color in the South. The extraordinary amount of copying official 
documents, while he was in the service of his master, was the cause 
of bis being the excellent penman that he is today. Though now 
more or less advanced in age. he still writes with ease that copper 
plate handwriting for which he has been noted for so many years. 
His opportunities for mental culture when a boy and young man 
were unlimited. Constantly in the company of books and intellec- 
tual men. it is not at all marvelous that he should have absorbed a 
great per cent, of what he read and saw and thus became one of 
the 1 est informed men of his day. 

A Planter in is(i7. 

In th" year of 1863 the subject joined the United States Navy 
and served on the Mississippi River, but his service was cut short 
by disability and lie went to Cincinnati, where he remained until 
t'" close of the war in 1865. He returned to the State of Missis 
sippi in i sbd and with his father and brother boughl the old Davis 



BEACON LIGHTS (>/•' THE RACE, 281 

plantation, which they cultivated for thirteen years. This planta- 
tion contained four thousand acres of land, of which three thousand 
acres were in cultivation. While this plantation had been regularly 
purchased by the subject and his father, yet in course of time there 
was an agreement to annul the original contract, which was done, 
and the land thus reverted to its original owners or their heirs. 
The subject raised his last crop in that section of the State of Mis- 
sissippi about in the year of 188a, and then moved to the city of 
Yicksburg, Miss., where he ran a small store and restaurant near 
the National Cemetery. 

The Call of the Delta. 

About in the year of 1 886 his attention was first attracted to the 
delta section of the State. The Louisville, New Orleans & Texas 
Railroad, which had built its line through that section of the coun- 
try, owned one million acres of land which it desired to open up for 
settlement along its right of way. There was a great desire on the 
part of the promoters and owners of this great railroad corporation 
to settle that miasmatic region with colored people, because it was 
then thought that white people could not stand the hardships and 
climate of that region. As an inducement to settlers, liberal conces- 
sions were made as to prices of land and terms of payments. At 
that time Major G. W. McGinness was the land commissioner of the 
railroad in question, and took active measures by which to induce 
people to locate in that region. He went to the subject of this 
sketch to enlist his efforts and influence in settling the delta coun- 
try with members of his race. The Land Commissioner agreed to 
put at Mr. Montgomery's disposal a civil engineer, and he empow- 
ered Mr. Montgomery to travel up and down the right of way of 
the railroad until he succeeded in finding a location that suited 
him. Having accepted the proposition of the Land Commissioner, 
about a week after the 1th of July in the year of 1887. the civil 
engineer arrived in the city of Vicksburg, Miss., to accompany Mr. 
Montgomery on the trip of exploration and settlement. They trav- 
eled a few days, making observations, and finally stopped at Meri- 
gold. From Merigold they came to the present site of Mound 
Bavou, where thev beheld nature in all of its virgin luxuriance, 
gigantic monarchs of the forest, cane from twenty to thirty feel 
high, briers and forest so thick and jungle-like as to lie nearly 
impenetrable. Deeply impressed with this spot as a favorable loca- 
tion for settlement, lie stayed there from morning until late in the 
afternoon. The subject agreed to take the plot for all the lands 
for miles around for the purpose of opening them up for settle- 
ment 



DEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

The Foundeb of Mound Bayou. 

After thus selecting the site for settlement, lit went t<> Memphis. 
T< im.. to discuss with the official powers his plans tor handling the 
Lands. It was agreed that he should sell the lands to his own people 
after keeping what he desired for his own uses. He was too 
sagacious to commit to those officials the particular object that 
he had in view. He had long entertained positive views as to the 
power of environment in the life of a race, and that it' the welfare 
of any people is to be conserved due regard must be paid to the home 
life of tin people. The ownership of houses and lands does not 
confer the greatest blessings upon any people, but it is the intelli- 
gence and purity of their home life. The founder of the settle- 
ment of Mound Bayou ever had in mind the development of the 
home lite of its citizens, and if this unique community has made 
any particular or creditable progress in its economic and social life, 
it has been due mainly to the wisdom and foresight of its sagacious 
founder. 

Mr. Isaiah T. Montgomery first picked out 840 acres of land for 
himself and family; the remainder was put on the market for sale. 
It was a very easy matter to enter into an agreement with the rail- 
road officials to settle that virgin country, but the actual work of 
inducing the settlers to locate was a herculean task, and in the 
accomplishment of his task he had to summon to his command 
all the resources of the physical as well as mental man. He traveled, 
held conferences, distributed literature dilating on the advantages 
of the new country, lectured and resorted to every reasonable experi- 
ment that would tend to explain the wonderful opportunities to his 
people and induce them to take advantage of them. It takes very 
strong oratory and cogent reasoning to induce members of the 
Negro race to leave their already settled abodes and move into a 
virgin land to undergo countless hardships, but Mr. Montgomery 
finally triumphed. His first settlers were influenced in the follow- 
ing manner: In one of his splendid lectures to them he eloquently 
dwelt on the fact that "all the countries of the world were originally 
in just as primitive a state, if not more so. as the new delta country 
tor wln.se settlement he was making his appeal; that the colored 
people had opened up this great American country, and their sweat 
and industry had made it blossom like the rose: that if their ances- 
tors had done tins, same wonderful things, why should they not 
b< willing to do likewise; that before them lay wonderful possibili- 
ties and riches, and that they only had to accept this opportunity, 
move into the new country, and soon earn lor themselves freedom 
and industrial independence." 

The colored people of the Mound Bayou settlement own about 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

30.000 acres of land, extending ten miles from east to west and three 
miles from North to South. Of this great acreage Mr. Montgomery 

himself has sold two thirds to his people. 

A Member of the Mississippi Constitutional Convention 

in 1890. 
Possibly the most unique political honor that was ever conferred 
upon Mr. I. T. Montgomery was that of election as delegate to the 
Mississippi Constitutional Convention in the year of 1890. He 
had the honor of being the only representative of the Negro race 
in the membership of that august body, and his oratorical efforts 
in behalf of his race were worthy of the occasion and the man. He 
felt himself called upon by tin exigencies of the situation to vindi- 
cate the integrity of his race, and his plea in the race's behalf 
would have done credit to some of the greatest orators of the present 
generation. The distinguished orator knew that the primary object 
of the convention was to eliminate the Negro as a factor from the 
political life of the State and to reduce the race correspondingly 
in the social scale. The address that the orator delivered in the 
Constitutional Convention against the abrogation of the Negro's 
political rights was one of the most masterly efforts that was ever 
delivered in the State of Mississippi, and electrified the whole nation. 
If there ever was an inspired effort, his speech certainly was. The 
human element entered in his discourse, and that is what gives 
eloquence to human tongues. He saw the political rights of his 
people, those rights imperiled for which millions of men had will- 
ingly resorted to arms and braved the dangers of shot and shell 
on a hundred battlefields of the republic to confer upon the people 
of the Negro race. His heart was touched and set on fire by the 
overwhelming wrong which was about to be perpetrated upon his 
race and all of the dormant powers of his intellect were arous- ,1 
to help him make his final plea before the bar of public justice for 
his people. His was an impassioned plea for moderation in dealing 
with the people of his race, and it was couched in language as 
appropriate as it was elegant and diplomatic. He was not rash and 
intemperate in his utterances, nor did he Aj ax-like defy the storm, 
but he was the embodiment of sincerity, prudence .and discretion. 
His famous address did not prevent the passage of the plank that 
was hostile to the suffrage of the race, but the conciliatory spirit 
that it breathed did much to soften the asperities that were the 
result of its enactment. 

Mr. Montgomery as an Orator. 
As an orator Mr. Montgomery takes rank among the first of 
the race in the State of Mississippi. He has an unusual vocabu- 
lary of expressive and precise English, and can grace any occasion 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

with the most felicitious diction. There is never any studied attempt 
at oratory, but every utterance bespeaks his natural equipment in 
that department of human excellence. The distinguishing quality 
ot' his oratory is the profoundity of thought that ever permeates it. 
His utterances bespeak the fact that he is a thinker, a scholar, and 
a statesman of the highest order. Ago has but the more sharpened 
his wit and developed his powers, so that he stands almost unap- 
proachable as a public man and leader of the people. He is i 
diplomatist, a logician of the first rank, and a pleasing speaker 
for the untutored masses, as well as the cultured classes. Alto- 
gether he is a rare man and gifted speaker, and such as only Mis- 
sissippi soil and climate can produce. 

A Genius for Business. 
Tlie subject of this sketch is one of the best business men in the 
State of Mississippi. There is no reason why he should not be. 
because his whole life from the days of slavery down to the present 
time has been connected with business pursuits. He is President 
of the Mound Bayou Oil Mill & Manufacturing Company, a cor- 
poration that is capitalized at $100,000, and destined to become one 
of the greatest enterprises of the race. He is a director of the 
Hank of Mound Bayou, one of' the leading banks of the delta. He 
is President of the Farmers' Co-Operative Mercantile Company of 
Mound Bayou, a corporation that is capitalized at -"rl 0.000. and 
that began business April 15, 1911, with no debts and over half of 
its capital stock paid in. He is a stockholder of the Mound Bayou 
Loan & Investment Company. He is a stockholder of the Union 
Guaranty Company, a bonding and insurance company of the State 
of Mississippi. He is the proprietor of a three-stand Munger 
ginnery, which handles between two thousand and two thousand 
five hundred bales of cotton annually. This ginnery is valued at 
$7,000. He is the proprietor of a sawmill that is valued at $2,500. 

One of the Land Kings or the Delta. 

It should cans,' nn surprise that the man who had the honor ot 
founding the settlement of Mound BayOU should be one ot its 
greatest land holders. The condition of the original compact was 
that the subject should reserve as many acres as he needed tor his 
own use and sell the other. This part of his contract he carried 
• in! to the letter, just as any other sensible man would have done. 
He huh owns about six hundred acres right around the town of 

Mound BayOU. He buys and sells land also, and is considered one 
of the biggest land kings of the delta. 

1 1 1* Devoted Wife. 

In the year of 1870 Mr. Montgomery was united in marriage to 



BKACoy I.Ki JITS OF THE RACE 



285 



Miss Mattie Robbs, of Tort Anderson, Boliver County. Miss. Their 
forty-one years of married life have been blessed with twelve chil- 
dren, of whom six are still living. Mrs. Montgomery is one of the 
real queens of the delta, for she presides with queenly dignity over 
the affairs of her household and dispenses hospitality with prodigal 
hands to the strangers that come within her gates. She is a woman 
that is possessed of* all of* the oldtinie virtues of character, and 




MR. AM) MRS. 1. T. MONTGOMERY 



such a woman as would assist almost any sort of a real man to rise 
in life. It has been her lot to have to attend to the affairs of her 
husband while he was away laboring tor the int. r.sts of tin mar- 
velous little settlement of which he is tin founder, and how well 



286 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

sin- shouldered the responsibility is evidenced by the family's pros- 
perity today. She is a great woman, and a tit companion for her 
great husband. 

Their Children'. 

Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery have made every reasonable provision 
for the education of their children, and tew children of the race 
have been so can fully trained and so liberally provided for. Miss 
Eva P. Montgomery was for three years a student of Colorado 
High School. Colorado Springs. Col. She graduated from the col- 
lege preparatory department of Straight University, New Orleans. 
La., in 1910. She is private secretary of her father. Miss Corinne 
E. Montgomery completed the normal and commercial courses at 
Straight University in 1908. Six- is employed in the Mound Bayou 
postoffice, .and has served as assistant in the office since 1908. 
Mis-, I.illie 15. Montgomery attended the Mound Bayou Normal 
School, and is a clerk in her father's office. Mrs. Ollie B. Mosbv. 
of St. Louis, Mo., is the estimable and talented wife of a prominent 
druggist of that city, and Mrs. ,1. H. Kent, another daughter, is the 
faithful companion of the proprietor of two up-to-date tonsorial 
parlors in the city of St. Louis. Mrs. M. C. Booze is the faithful 
ami devoted wife of Mr. E. P. Booze, of Mound Bayou. Miss. 

His Personality. 

I he subject is a gentleman of polished presence and charming 
personality. He is an interesting conversationalist, with an inex- 
haustible fund of wholesome information concerning men and things. 
He is a wise man that is neither conceited nor spoiled because of his 
wisdom, and he is a clean man that is not at all presumptuous 
because of his moral virtues. He is kind, courteous, obliging and 
thoroughly consistent in everything that he advocates. He has 
every requisite and equipment for successful and wise leadership of 
his people, and as long as he is alive and in harness it will never 
be said or written of the unique and progressive settlement of' which 
he is the honored founder that it was a "Mississippi Bubble." 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 2-7 



Ii. A. Williams, M.D., Helena, Ark. 

Founder and Supreme President of the Royal Circle of 

Friends of the World. 

HIS age is pre-eminently the age of the young man, and 
there is no more encouraging sign for the future wel- 
fare of the race than to see its young men sober-minded, 
resolute, confident and determined either to find a way 




to success or make one. The young men of the race have been held 
up to the world and stigmatized as lazy, worthless and lacking in 
those fundamental qualities that are essential to success in life. 
It is claimed by some that the youth of the race are without serious 
purpose, and that they are mere human derelicts, floating about on 
the ocean of life. While there is some ground for this widespread 
criticism, yet in countless instances it is far from being deserved. 

This is a brief life story of the youngest man whose sketch graces 
the pages of this hook. It would be a compliment to any man, what- 
ever his age or experience may he, to have contributed as much as 
the subject has contributed to the sum total of human welfare and 
progress. The subject of this sketch stands for actual achievement 
in the domain of service and usefulness to his fellowmen, and he is 
a shining example of worthy and noble endeavor. 

His Birthplace. 

Dr. R. A. Williams, the worthy subject of this sketch, is a native 
of Forrest City. Ark., and first saw the light of day September 13, 
1879. He was not born on a farm, nor does he point with pride to 
any great hardships in life. He was not born with a silver spoon 
in his mouth, but the success that he has achieved in life has been 
the result of his own sacrifices and labors. He has ever had an 
ambition to work out his own destiny, and he demands of the world 
nothing but a chance to do his best for the cause of human progress. 

His Education. 

That Dr. Williams was a precocious youth is evidenced by tin- 
fact that he completed the course in the public school of his native 
city when lie was only twelve years of age After his graduation 
from the public school in 1 891 , he completed the course of the 
Danville Industrial High School of Danville, Va.. in the year of 
1893. From the Danville Industrial High School his literary 
activities were transferred to tin- higher institutions of learning in 



- 



/;/:.-/' m.v LIGHTS OF i m: /:.!■ i: 




K. A. u ii LIAMS, M. I». 



BEACOX Llnilis <>/•' in/; RACE 

his native State. He was a student of the Arkansas Baptist C 'ol- 
lege. Little Rock. Ark.. .-111(1 iii the yen- of 1896 he had the honor 
of being the first graduate of its academic department. At the age 

of seventeen his literary education was nearly completed, and he 
was thus prepared to pursue the study of that grand profession for 
which he had the highest hopes of success. It is a great compliment 
to the early determination of the subject that lie had formulated 
and had nearly brought to a conclusion the plans tor his future 
professional life even sooner than the average youth has begun to 
think of his future. Long before attaining his majority lie had 
decided what his future life work should be. 

A School Teacher at Focrteen Yeah-. 

His career of service and usefulness began verv earlv in life. 
Early he began to take a serious view of life and its responsibilities, 
and he governed himself accordingly. He assumed the duties of 
school teacher at the early age of fourteen years, and pursued this 
profession in Cross. St. Francis and Mississippi counties of his 
native State. Just as he subsequently aspired to be in the medical 
profession, he aspired to be one of the most capable teachers in his 
State, and succeeded in his worthy ambition to a very creditable 
degree. 



-&' 



A Merchant ix Forrest City. 

That Dr. Williams has had a versatile experience is demonstrated 
by the fact that in his varied career he has never passed by an 
opportunity that would enable him to turn to account an honest 
penny. He never hated work. but. on the contrary, he embraced 
every opportunity to rise in life. He was a grocer in his town 
from 1896 until 1898 and was senior member of the firm of Wil- 
liams & Brown. 

Off to Meharry Medical Collegk. 

In the autumn of 1898 the subject matriculated at Meharry 
Medical College, when he was in his nineteenth year. He pursued 
the course of study in a regular manner and graduated in the year 
of 1902. During his senior year in the medical college he won 
the R. F. Bovd medal for excellence in gynecology. His under- 
standing of the principles of medicine was thorough, and his prep- 
aration for the mastery of' his profession was generally recognized 
by his associates. 



290 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Hangs Out His Shingle in Knoxville, Tenn. 

His medical course having been completed, the new fledged dis- 
ciple of Aesculapius decided to locate in the city of Knoxville, Tenn., 
for the purpose of practicing his profession. So he hung out his 
shingle to the breezes of the East Tennessee metropolis in the year 
1902. He established a splendid practice in that city, but the yearn- 
ing for his native State and all of the professional posibilities of 
the populous black belt in which he was born had their influence 
with him and induced him to return to his native State to practice 
his profession. In the year of 1905 he located in Helena, Ark., 
where he now lives and where he enjoys the reputation of being one 
of that city's leading physicians. 

Stands High in the Medical Profession. 

If a man is a first-class physician, the evidence in his favor will 
be so overwhelming that due credit will be given him. In spite of 
the unconscious disposition on the part of some critics to speak 
deprecatingly of the proficiency of many of the members of the 
race who are engaged in the practice of medicine, it is a fact that 
nothing but the highest encomiums arc heard concerning the pro- 
fessional ability of the subject of this sketch. The people of his 
community speak in terms of the highest praise of his ability, and 
the six years of his professional experience in the city of Helena 
have been one continuous triumph of his skill in the art of healing 
and relieving the ills of suffering humanity. 

A Splendid Office Practice. 

Owing to the stress of his fraternal duties, the worthy doctor 
travels considerably, and is not at home to practice his profession as 
systematically as formerly. His practice is largely confined to his 
office, and is of a lucrative character. So highly is his medical 
-kill appreciated that many of liis patients will suffer the incon- 
venience of liis absence for a week at a time, if necessary, without 
((insulting any other physician. His office practice is very large. 
and would 1" a en (lit to any physician who might make office 
practice a specialty. 

Founder and Supreme President of the Royal Circle of 

1 nil NHS or THE WORLD. 

This is an age of achievements. In the world of success deeds 
have ever counted more than words. The most sublime eloquence 
that can fall from the lips of mortal beings is the eloquence of 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 291 

deeds done and not words spoken; for it is what we do and not what 
we say that counts most in the arena of life. In the month of Sep- 
tember, 1909) the subject of this sketch founded the fraternity 
which is known as the Royal Circle of Friends of the World. The 
first Grand Circle meeting was held in the town of Helena, Ark., 
September 1. 2, and 3, 190P, and it is hardly probable that any 
fraternity of its age ever had a more auspicious meeting. 

A Modern and Progressive Fraternity. 

This splendid fraternity is one of. the most modern and one of 
the most up-to-date organizations soliciting the patronage of the 
public. It has come before the people of this Southland, demand- 
ing recognition, encouragement and support solely on its merits. 
The founder of this fraternity is an eminently practical and pro- 
gressive young man, and there is not in his character a single wild 
and chimerical idea. The order is founded upon the bed-rock of 
business principles. While its ritualistic work is interesting, attrac- 
tive and even sublime, yet the fact must not be overlooked that this 
fraternity is, first of all, a high-class business organization. The 
founder of this order realized the fact that the primary object of 
any fraternal organization is the promoting of the moral, physical, 
intellectual and material welfare of its members. This can be 
done only by combining correct business principles with proper 
mental and moral training. There is real merit in this organiza- 
tion, and that is the reason why it has achieved such unparalleled 
success. 

Phenomenal Growth in Lodges and Membership. 

Notwithstanding the fact that this fraternity was organized as 
recently as the month of September, 1909; it has now a membership 
of more than 9,000. and it is sweeping the country like a mighty 
invincible army. Its growth has been phenomenal, marvelous, won- 
derful and surpasses the record of all former organizations of a 
similar character. The fraternity already has over three hundred 
(300) lodges, and is organizing new lodges in every direction with 
remarkable frequency. 

Its Endowment Policy. 

This fraternity is liberal in its endowment allowance, and com- 
pares favorably in total allowance with any other order. It pays to 
the beneficiary the princely sum of $300, and it pays this generous 
allowance just as soon as proper proofs of the member's death can 
be secured. The extraordinary feature in connection with the 



292 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE R.l- E 

paymenl of the death policy of this order is its promptness. Often 
the death payments are made in less than a week after the departure 
of the deceased. The money is promptly forthcoming as soon as 
the death of the member is proved, and this payment is made in 
actual money in the hands of the beneficiary. The difference 
between the Royal Circle of Friends of the World and many other 
fraternal organizations is that it has no long and discouraging 
period of waiting for the paymenl of the death policy. Most of the 
other fraternities require from sixty days to six months to make 
a complete liquidation with the beneficiary, but this society pays its 
death claims immediately in actual cash in the hands of the bene- 
ficiary. The founder of the fraternity or his representative pays 
to the beneficiary the entire sum of $300 in money, and does not 
resort to any kind of note or check. Thus there is every reason 
why this fraternity should enjoy such universal popularity and 
why it should have had such a marvelous growth, surpassing in that 
respect nearly every other fraternity in the history of the race. The 
time when the bereaved most needs financial assistance and relief is 
when the pangs of sorrow .and grief are most poignant, and it is i 
calamity to have to wait an indefinite Length of time for the 
benefits that are promised and guaranteed. The promptness with 
which the founder of this order pays all death claims has been a 
revelation and source of wonder to the people of his State, and 
demonstrates the fact that he is a far-sighted thinker, as well as i 
benefactor to his race. 

A Special Policy. 

This progressive fraternity lias not only a death benefit policy, 

I. ut it also has a special policy, the benefit of which accrues to the 
members in the course of their natural lives, provided they live tor 
a certain number of years. This special police makes provision 
for the future of its members by setting aside a cash endowment of 
$100 to the member who continues in go,,,! standing with tin' order 
for a period of ten consecutive years. This cash allowance is. in 
many respects, one of the most timely and one of the most beneficent 
provisions in the history of lodgedom, and is on a parity with many 
of the features of the modern, up to dale insurance companies. In 

the course of ten years tin average member will begin to suffer from 
Some of the infirmities of life, and will he in a condition to welcome 
such a timelv beneficence. 

Sick \m> Accident Benefit Allowances. 

This vvorthv organization does its full duty in the scheme o( 
benevolence, tor it makes every provision t'or the prompt relict ot 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 293 

its sick and afflicted members. No organization measures up t<> 
its highest duty that does not make the principles of charity and 
benevolence the main articles of its faith. This order looks well 
to its living members, as well as to its dead, .and in this respect it is 
second to no other fraternity. 

Fees. 

The fee for joining this organization, including medical exam 
ination. is $2.50, while the tee for endowment benefits is only $1.00 
per quarter. In proportion to the substantial benefits to be derived 
from membership in this order, the fees are more reasonable than 
those of any other organization. 

Disbursements and Surplus. 

In the brief period of the fraternity's existence, from the month 
of September. 1909, until this time, it has paid out to beneficiaries 
more than $12,000, and notwithstanding the payment of this unpre- 
cedented sum of money, the order lias now on hand a surplus of 
more than $11,000 in the endowment department. The prospects 
of this fraternity arc materially advanced by the fact that the 
majority of its members are young men and young women, with a 
reasonable span of years to come, and for this reason the death 
payments will be much less than the older organizations for some 
years to come. 

The Royal Messenger. 

In the city of Helena. Ark., the order maintains .an organ of 
publication called the Royal Messenger, which is published twice a 
month. The founder of the order is the editor of this popular and 
welcome little paper, and he has bent all of his energies in his 
laudable ambition to make the paper a creditable organ. At head- 
quarters, where the official organ is published, the order maintains 
a printing plant, which produces all literature for the order. The 
printing plant is conservatively valued at $1,000. 

The Supreme Presioent a Popular Official. 

Dr. R. A. Williams is one of the most popular and one of the 
most beloved officials in lodgedom, and his influence with the mem- 
bers of his craft is marvelous. His members realize the fact that 
they are fraternally connected with an honest as well as honorable 
leader, and that their interests will always cheerfully be safe- 
guarded. He has organized a fraternity along the most advanced 
lines of modern thought and progressiveness, and he is entitled to 



294 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



every honor that his genius has made possible. He has blazed far 
away from the beaten paths of other organizations, and has intro- 
duced new methods and definite advantages which have had a bene- 
ficial effect upon the older organizations. So radical are the changes 
that he has made in the operations of his fraternity, and so far- 
reaching are the effects, that all of the latest fraternity founders 
and Leaders are following his example. That the doctor is a deserv- 
ing young man is demonstrated by tin- tact that he has the unquali- 




l)K. R. A. WILLIAMS AND 1 \M1L\ 

Red endorsement of some of the best men of both races in his 
Staff. His record hoth as citizen and practicing physician is so 
creditable that there can hardly be found a man that will not gladly 
testify t<> his high-class standing and character. 

His Talented \m> Devoted Wife. 



August J ."• 1 1 ) . l!)<).;. was a hallowed day in the memory of the 
subject, for it was on thai memorable day thai life conferred upon 
him one oi its choicest blessings in the person oi his faithful and 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



295 



devoted wife. In the days of her single blessedness his estimable 
wife was a Miss Cora E. Morgan, of Memphis, Tenn., daughter 
of one of the wealthiest planters of Shelby County, Tenn. She is 
a graduate of LeMoyne Institute, Memphis, Tenn., and for several 
years she was one of the leading teachers in the schools of Shelby 
County. That she is a woman of rare domestic virtues is confidently 
claimed by her devoted husband, who cheerfully admits the fact 
that his dear wife has been the making of his success. When for- 
tune joined them in the holy bonds of wedlock the sum total of all 
of his worldly possessions was not worth mentioning. In fact, the 
purchase of the marriage license nearly drove the doctor into bank- 
ruptcy. His wife has practiced economy, has sacrificed and has 




RESIDKNCF. OF DR. R. A. WILLIAMS 



worked in every possible way to lay the foundation for his present 
well-doing in life, and it is safe to state that no other man has a 
more willing and more faithful helpmeet than the fortunate doctor. 
Mrs. Williams is a woman of charming looks and personality, and 
merits every encomium that her worthy husband can bestow upon 
her. She helped him to rise in life, and for this reason she is not 
only his devoted wife, but she is his benefactress as well. She has 
been a source of inspiration to him in the darkest hour of his pro- 
fessional life, and she has encouraged him to aspire to the highest 
honors of his profession. The doctor and his estimable wife have 
one wee cherub. Missie Vera Louise Williams, to love, rear and 



296 



BEACO.X LIGHTS OF I HE RACE 



maintain. She is a pocket edition of her worthy father, and as 
bright as two silver dollars fresh from the mint. The doctor has 
a splendid home in the city of Helena, and he lives in a style befit- 
ting tin high class professional man that he is. 

Conclusion. 

The secrel of the doctor's success is that he stands for red merit 
in more than one sphere of usefulness. He is not only one of the 
most capable physicians of the State of Arkansas, but he is also 
the founder of one of the most progressive fraternities in his State. 
His administration has been so aggressive and business-like that its 
principles have been propagated in several of the Southern States, 
and the fraternity now operates in Arkansas. Mississippi. Alabama. 
Kentucky .and Oklahoma. The doctor is not a professional bubble 
floating on the ocean of adventure, but he is a wide-awake business 
man and practicing physician that stands in the front rank of 
successful achievement. 





BEACO.X LIGHTS OF THE RACE 297 

Rev. J. Jay Scott, B. S., Memphis, Tom. 
President Fraternal Savings Bank and Trust Company. 

N THE very eve of the fratricidal conflict between the 
North and the South, there was born June 13, I860, in 
the State of Illinois, within a radius of five miles of the 
city of Alton, the historic spot that was made sacred by 
the martyrdom of the sainted Love joy. the liberator and friend of 
the benighted slaves, the strong, able and virile leader whose name 
graces the head of this narrative. It gives no embarrassment or 
pain to Rev. J. Jay Seott to have published to the world the fact 
that the snows of more than fifty winters have fallen upon his head, 
for he is just as active and just as determined to succeed in life as 
he ever Mas. and this spirit of determination will stay the onward 
course of years and cause him to enjoy perpetual juvenescence. 

His Early School Traixixg. 
The elementary education of the subject was received in the com- 
mon schools in and around the city of Alton, 111. He had always 
desired to make a creditable mark in life, and early realized the 
importance of having a thorough education. The foundation of his 
scholastic attainments was laid in the schools of his native State, 
but his subsequent higher intellectual attainments were acquired 
in the colleges of the South. 

Came South in 1881. 
In the year of 1881 the subject first came South to seek an edu- 
cation and tlie main chance to succeed. It is true that the gnat 
North provides every educational advantage for the Negro race, 
but it does not provide the same opportunities for material growth 
the Southland does. Nor are the educational institutions of the 
South very far behind similar institutions of the North in their 
sphere of preparing the youth of the land for the struggles and 
conflicts of life. The subject had the ability to see the dual advan- 
tage that was to be gained by being educated in the South pre- 
paratory for living in the South. So he resolved to attend the 
institutions of learning in the South, so that he might be prepared 
for the exigencies of that life which he was to live. 

Won a Unique S< iiolarship. 

It is a very easy thing to resolve to go to college, but it is not 

always an easy proposition to put one's resolution in execution. 

But a very fortunate circumstance materially assisted the subject 

for four years of his student life in college. While teaching school 



29* 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




REV. | | \\ SO tTT 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 299 

in Jersevville, 111., it was the good fortune of the subject to win in 
a competitive examination a scholarship that was good for four 
years in any reputable American college. This scholarship was 
worth $150 per annum, and furnished the subject his greatest 
financial inspiration for that period of time. 

The Strange Story of the Scholarship's Origin. 
There once lived in the State of Illinois a man by the name of 
George Washington, who had been a slave in one of the slave States, 
but on moving into the State of Illinois be became a freeman. This 
former slave had never known the blessings of education, and was 
himself an illiterate man. By his untiring industry, rigid economy 
and thrift he had accumulated a great fortune for those early 
days. After he had amassed this great fortune and while he was 
in full possession of his faculties, he made his will, in which instru- 
ment be bequeathed the sum of $1,500 for a monument to his former 
master. The remainder of his fortune was to be held in trust by 
the State of Illinois as a perpetual fund for the education of col- 
ored youth in that State. The original fund amounted to $16,000, 
the interest from which was to be used for the purpose as set forth 
in the will. The State of Illinois appointed five trustees to look 
after the proper distribution of this fund according to the terms 
that were laid down in the will, and for the purpose of getting the 
best results from the sum invested. It was the wisdom of the trustees 
to found scholarships for ambitious and worthy colored youth, the 
same to be won by competitive examinations. Having been the 
successful winner of one of these scholarships, the subject of this 
sketch chose Fisk University, Nashville. Tenn., as the seat of his 
future student activities. 

A Graduate of Fisk University. 

The first institution of higher education that the subject attended 
in the South was Rust University. Holly Springs. Miss., but he was 
a student of this college only one year, when he voluntarily severed 
his student connection with that institution and entered Fisk Univer- 
sity. The subject ought to know and does know as much about 
grand old Fisk University as any other student living, for it wis 
his privilege to study in its classic and hallowed walls for seven 
long years before receiving his credentials of graduation. It was 
indeed a proud and happy moment in his lite when, after seven years 
of consecrated study, he received his diploma of graduation with tin- 
honored degree of Bachelor of Science in the year of ISO-..'. 

In the Congregational Ministry. 
Desiring to prepare for the ministry, he took one year's training 
in Chicago Theological Seminary, and tl.cn returned to his alma 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

mater, where he completed the English course in theology. He 
nt. n (1 the ministry of the Congregational Church and served as 
pastor tin rein tor five years. For three years he served as chaplain 
of the A. & M. College at Normal. Ala., and in that capacity he did 
much to stimulate and strengthen the moral and religious tone of 
the students of that institution. 

A Chaplain in the Spanish-American War. 

To the same degree that the subject was honored in peace, he 

I is honored in war. tor he was appointed Chaplain of the Third 

Alabama Regiment of Spanish-American Volunteers, with the rank 

ot' Captain, and he was the only colored man of high rank that was 

connected with the regiment. 

A Business Max in Tennessee. 

It was the business foresight of the subject that enabled him to 
si <■ the possibilities of the undertaking business and to unite with 
his brother. .Mr. H. Wayman Wilkerson, in such a business venture. 
Having purchased the equipment and good will of the A. X. John- 
son Undertaking Establishment, the two brothers united their inter- 
ests in the undertaking business in the year of 1903. How well 
the firm has succeeded is evidenced by one of the best equipped and 
one of the most complete establishments of its character in the 
South. The undertaking firm has been guided by business prin- 
ciples of the highest order, and has catered to its patrons in such a 
manner as to elicit universal appreciation .and praise. Eight years 
of continuous success in any business is an honor that is not to be 
gained without some degree of merit. 

His Estimable and Devoted Wife. 

It is a trite old saying that "peace hath her victories not less 
renowned than war." It is true that the subject may wear the 
- paulet of a veteran of the Spanish-American war. and that he 
may have won some great victories in that war. hut one of the most 
creditable victories that he ever won was outside ot' the field of 
mortal combat, and it took place on the field of love, instead oi' the 
field of Mars. On the first of August. 1898, the gallant captain 
stormed the citadel of tin heart of Miss Kate V. IV.J.irnctte. ot' 
Montgomery, Ala., and carried it away in triumph to be his own 
possession forever. She is a graduate of tin State Normal School 
of Montgomery, Ala., and she is a woman that is fully capable 
of gracing the home and adorning the domestic lit' of such an 
able man as her devoted husband. Alter her graduation from the 
State Normal School at Montgomery. Ala., she w as tor three years 
an instructor in her alma mat. r. and she served in a similar 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



$01 



capacity when her husband was stationed as chaplain in the A. & 
M. College ; at Normal, Ala. She is prominent in the social, religious 
.-Hid fraternal life of the city of Memphis, and a useful and service- 
able woman in every worthy department of life. 

National Grand Lecturer Mosaic Templars of America. 

The worthy and able subject of this sketch is National (Fraud 
Lecturer of the Mosaic Templars of America, a great fraternal 
organization that was founded by colored men. and which is said 
to have a membership of sixty-five thousand. 




MRS. J. J. SCOTT 



( ) i iii'.n ( )i i K i w. Honors. 

The subject is a member of the Hoard of Trustees of the Temple 
Building of the .Mosaic Templars of America. He is chairman of 
the Hoard of Trustees of Sanderlin Academy. White Station. Tenn. 
He is Chairman of the Hoard of Trustees of the Old folks and 
Orphans' Home Association. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the 
Scott. Wilkerson & Scott Undertaking Company, a company that 
is incorporated and engaged in one of the most successful busi- 
ness ventures in the South. 



BE ACQS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

President of Fraternal Swings Bank. 

During the tight years of business life of the subject, he has 
<li \i loped into one of the most aggressive and one of the most 
capable business nun of the race. His shrewd business judgment 
has won for his company the leading rank among the undertaking 
establishments of the city of .Memphis, and has at the same time 
won him fame as a successful business promoter. Just as it has 
been in the life of every other successful business man. there has 
been in his life a climax of successful achievement. This climax 
was his election and elevation to the presidency of the Fraternal 
Savings Bank & Trust Company in I .'MO. The Fraternal Savings 
Bank is capitalized at $25,000, and in the short period of its exist- 
ence its progress has been phenomenal. The bank's management 
is progressive and in accordance with sound and up-to-date business 
methods. It has on its directorate many substantial farmers, and 
their sound, common sense and sterling honesty are a valuable asset 
to the bank's business resources. 

An Original Thinker and Independent Man. 
Rev. J. Jay Scott is a man of versatile ability, and lias served 
with credit in many fields of activity and usefulness. Whether 
as teacher in the school room, minister in the pulpit, chaplain in 
the army, orator on the platform or business man in the arena of 
commercial life, he has striven to do his work to the best of his 
ability. He is an original thinker and a man that is independent 
in his actions, if he is imbued with the idea that he is right. He 
is fearless in his advocacy of men or measures, and wears the badge 
of cringing servility to no man. He has his own mind and thinks 
Ids own thoughts. He believes in the possibilities of the Negro 
race, and he is daily demonstrating his confidence in the future of 
the race. 

Conclusion. 

'! he subject his been the maker of his own success. In the 
darkest hour of business adversity he has never lost hope, for he is 
an optimist of the thirty-third degree. By his own grit and deter- 
mination he educated himself, went out into the world and roughed 
it. and in the end he lias come into his well earned inheritance of 
financial success and business honor. In the full high noon o( life 
he can calmly look in retrospect from his humble beginning when 
B young mail to his final success as a business man. and rejoice 

because benign Pro\id<nee has blessed him in just proportion to his 
on -rits. He has labored in this Southland tor upward of thirty-one 
yearsj and has erected tor himself a monument thai will be as 
enduring as time itself. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 303 

■/. S. Tackett, M.D., Edmonds on, Ark. 

President of People's Telephone Company. 

HIS modern age is, in the main, a material age, and 
success is measured largely in material units of achieve- 
ment. From the viewpoint of the world, a man's success 
is judged by the quantity of this world's goods that he 
has accumulated. It matters not that a man has the wisdom of 
Solomon, he is not considered a successful man unless he has suc- 
ceeded in accumulating the almighty dollar. While this material 
standard may not be the best for society, yet it is a condition that 
the world freely imposes upon itself. Whatever the standard of 
excellence may be. there can be found countless men of the Xegro 
race that can conform thereto. The worthy subject of this sketch, 
Dr. J. S. Tackett, is a member of that fortunate number, for he 
has not only accumulated a considerable portion of the goods of 
this world, but he has accumulated a creditable amount of the 
stores of the intellectual world. 

His Nativity. 

The subject has a firm claim on the State of Mississippi, for 
he first beheld the light of day in that State at Pickens, Holmes 
County, January 18, 1873. He was born on a farm and spent there- 
on most of the days of his young manhood. His father died when 
the subject was a lad of tender years, and he was thus thrown on 
his own resources to struggle until this day. 

His Education. 

The subject attended the rural schools of Holmes County, Miss., 
until he was eighteen years old. In addition to the educational 
advantages that were provided for him by his home county, he 
attended New Orleans University, New Orleans. La., where he 
completed his literary training. 

He Wore the Toga of a Schoolmaster. 

His career as a schoolmaster began in the summer of 18.06 in 
Madison County. Miss., and continued for several years. He was 
principal of the Indianola Public School for two terms and taught 
at irregular intervals in one or more counties of the State while 
he was a student attending medical college. 






BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




DR, I. S. rACKETl 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 305 

A Graduate of Illinois Medical College. 

In the year of 1900 the subject matriculated at Flint Medical 
College, New Orleans, La., where he pursued his first year in the 
study of medicine. In 1901 he began his student life at Illinois 
Medical College, Chicago. 111., from which institution he graduated 
in September, 1901. 

South to Practice His Profession. 

In the autumn of 1.001 the subject quit the city of Chicago to 
return to his native State to practice his profession. His student life 
at the medical college had been one of privation and great sacri- 
fices, and when he had received his diploma of graduation after 
four years of hard study, he found his finances in a deplorable 
condition. His financial resources were not sufficient to carry him 
back to his native State, and the result was he had to get off the 
train at Memphis. Tenn., with less than two dollars in his pocket. 
He had no plans for stopping off in the city of Memphis. It was 
an involuntary act on his part, for the initial part of the drama 
was performed by the railroad officials, who could not furnish free 
transportation to a doctor that did not have two dollars of his own 
money in the wide, revolving world. Put the doctor's noble efforts 
to prepare himself for service were not without their final reward, 
for his being stranded in Memphis was one of the most fortunate 
circumstances that ever befell him. and opened up an opportunity 
for professional and financial success of which he had never 
dreamed. By chance in his stranded condition he met some strangers 
from the town of Edmondson. Ark., and they kindly told him of the 
possibilities for a physician if he would go there to locate. The 
new fledged doctor was only too glad to avail himself of that provi- 
dential opening, and came over with his newly found friends to the 
town of Edmondson. where he located and hegan his medical prac- 
tice. These same kind friends furnished him with the money with 
which to pay the fee for his medical examination before the State 
Board of Examiners. 

Has Prospered. 

Not only has the subject achieved splendid professional success, 
but he has prospered financially. In this particular respect he has 
shown himself to be as capable a business man as he is a doctor 
of medicine. He owns the only drug store in the town, and has a 
stock of medical goods equal to the demands of the community. 
He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, and is one of the 



• 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



largest colored land owners in the county. Land in Crittenden 
( ounty is of great value, tor it will produce in a good crop year 
a bale of cotton and over to the acre. He nuts out his land to over 
twenty families, which he furnishes with supplies. 

President of People's Telephone Company. 

The doctor 1ms identified himself with all of the business enter- 
prises of his adopted community, and is one of its most aggressive 
and most progressive business men. He is President of the People's 




MKS. |. S. TACKETT 

Telephone Company, a local and long distance telephone company 
that is now operating in the town of Edmondson and vicinity. The 
installation of tins telephone system will give some idea oi the 
progressive spirit of the people of that community. This telephone 

system is \<r\ popular, and there are many applications for service 
which will render it necessary to enlarge the plant at the earliest 



BEACON Lid UTS of tin: RACK 307 

possible time. The doctor is also a stockholder of the Edmondson 
Home & [mprovement Company, which has done wonders (or thi 
developmeni of this unique and prosperous Negro settlement. The 
doctor is a live wire of business activity, and will soon erect on Ins 
present business site a substantial two-story brick building tor 
business and office purposes. 

His Estimable Wife. 

In less than two years after locating in the State of Arkansas, the 
doctor returned to his native State and brought hack with him to 
his new home his dear and devoted wife, who was a Miss Florence 
A. Stigger, of Robinson Springs, Miss., and whom he led to the 
altar April 29, 1906. She was educated at Tougaloo University. 
Rust University and Walden University, where she completed one 
of the literary courses. She is an excellent woman, and has brought 
to the doctor's assistance her splendid business judgment and 
womanly inspiration. She has all of the virtues that go with a 
real, devoted wife, and it is a safe proposition to state that no man 
is more fortunate than the doctor in the possession of a better half 
and helpmeet. 

Conclusion. 

Seldom has it been the ease that a member of the race has made 
such phenomenal success as the doctor has made in the short period 
of less than a decade. From a stranded physician, with less than 
two dollars as the sum total of all of his worldly possessions, to a 
man that is rated at thirty thousand dollars, is quite a climb of the 
financial ladder in seven years. If he has accomplished so much 
in the first seven years of his career, what may he not be expected 
to achieve during the next seven years, if life lasts? The doctor 
is one of the best examples of success in the ranks of the race. 
and merits every success that his splendid ability and sagacious 
foresight have won. A cash offer of thirty thousand dollars has been 
made for his accumulation of seven years, but he has cheerfully 
declined, and proposes to strive and accomplish even more in the 
next seven years, if possible. 



308 



BEA< OS UUIITS OF THE RACE 




Perry W. Howard, AM.. LL.B., Jackson. Miss. 



Lawyer and Counsellor. 






OR some reason or other thousands of the foremost men 
of the nation have taken great pride in calling to the 

attention of the world the fact that they were horn amidst 
conditions of poverty and want: and they have rejoiced 

because their infant mouths missed the proverbial golden spoon that. 

figuratively speaking, plays such a prominent part in the lives oi 

those who are hum to the purple; hut there is one distinguished man 
in the State of Mississippi that hrimrs to his rescue no plea ot 
poverty by hirth hut who. on the contrary, is proud ot' the fact that 
the circumstances ot' his parents were such as enabled them to 
look well to the interests of their children from every standpoint 
involving their welfare. This exceptional man is none other than 
Honorable Perry W. Howard, the able and eminent barrister of 

Jacks, hi. Miss. 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 309 

His Nativity. 

He is a member of the caravan whose life journey began in the 
sprightly little town of Ebenezer, Holmes County. Miss., and the 
date of his birth was June 14, 1878. His father was a blacksmith 
in fair circumstances, and there was every incentive for his hammer 
to play day by day a joyful tattoo on its anvil, for the Howard 
stock was prolific and it meant better results for his family for 
him to keep the said hammer busy. 

His Education*. 

The public schools of Holmes County were the theatre of Lawyer 
Howard's early youthful activities, but in the year of 1891 he went 
to Alcorn A. & M. College, where he remained for two years. In 
the autumn of 18.93 he transferred his allegiance to Rust Univer- 
sity, Holly Springs, Miss., where he completed his literary training 
by graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the year 
of 1899- 

Was a Leading Educator. 

Before taking up the practice of law Mr. Howard was one of the 
leading educators of the South. His education received at Rust 
University made him the intellectual peer of almost any man in 
the South, and he was well prepared to make a reputation second 
to none in the teachers' profession. Immediately after his gradua- 
tion from Rust University he was elected to the presidency of Camp- 
bell College of Jackson, Miss., one of the leading colleges of 
Central Mississippi, and he served at the head of this institution 
until the conclusion of the school session in the year of 1900. In 
the same year, while serving as President of Campbell College, it 
was the pleasure of the trustees of that well-known institution of 
learning to confer upon the distinguished subject of this sketch 
the honorary degreee of Master of Arts as an humble testimonial 
to his ability. From the presidency of Campbell College he was 
elected to fill the chair of mathematics in Alcorn A. & M. College 
and he served in that capacity for five years, or until the year of 
1905. While serving as professor of mathematics in Alcorn Uni- 
versity he made a substantial reputation as an able instructor and 
mathematician. 

A Graduate of the Illinois College of Law. 

While the splendid ability of Mr. Howard made it possible for 
him to fit in creditably and ably in any position requiring extra- 
ordinary- intellectual equipment, and especially in the teachers* 



310 BEACOS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

profession, yet his natural inclinations were never in the direction 
of the school room, hut in the direction of the Legal profession. For 
years he had built air castles that had as tlui r foundation and 
materia] the subtleties of the law. and he gradually made prepara- 
tion to abandon the profession of teaching for the profession of Law. 
So. while occupying the chair of mathematics in Alcorn Univer- 
sity he diligently applied himself to the study of law. Three 
months of each year wen- spent in the study of law at the Illinois 
College of Law. Chicago. 111. In the fullness of time he graduated 
from this law school in the year of 1905 with the degree of LL.B. 

A Lawyer and Counsellor ix His Native State. 

He resigned the chair of mathematics in Alcorn College in the 
year of 1905 and immediately began the practice of the legal 
profession in Jackson. Miss. He demonstrated his fitness for the 
practice of his profession by running the gauntlet of examination 
by the members of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. Of course, 
a man of the intellectual attainments of Lawyer Howard could not 
have failed after such thorough preparation and hacked up by such 
a high class literary education. The profession of law is one of 
the learned professions, and only a Learned man can master its 
intricacies. It is the oldest of the professions and also the most 
exalted, and it has safeguarded the rights of mankind since the 
dawn of the creation of the world. It is the only real scepter of 
power, and the one to which the most powerful monarch as well 
as the humblest subject must how in humble submission. 

Lawyer Howard is not one of the oldest attorneys of color pric 
thing at the bar of the State of Mississippi, since his youthful 
years preclude such a possibility, hut he is indeed considered one 
of the ablest, notwithstanding his youth. He practices in all the 
courts of the State of Mississippi and in the United States courts 
as well. He ranks with the best lawyers of the State in degree of 
success. He is a close reasoiier. an unerring analvist. a keen ero-^ 
examiner, an effective speaker and a man that is forcible in every 
department of tin law. He has a large and Lucrative practice, and 
altogether his future in the legal profession is as hright as his 
ability is commanding. 

A Leading Politician. 

The worthy subject of this sketch has always entertained the 
highest respect tor the political rights with which he is clothed 
by the laws of the land, and he has for years been prominent in 
tin councils of the Republican party in the St.ate of Mississippi. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 311 

He is a member of the Republican State Executive Committee, and 
he has been honored with election as delegate to the National 
Republican Convention. His voice and pen .are ever at 1 1 » « - service 

of the party whenever it is waging a warfare in defense of its sacred 
principles. He is one of the leading political orators of the State, 
and an effective man on the hustings in any capacity. 

A Versatile Genius. 
In abandoning the profession of teaching for that of law, it was 
not a fear of spoiling a first-class schoolmaster for an indifferent and 
struggling lawyer, but it was the case of a master mind in one of 
the learned professions simply changing its lahors from the exact- 
ing field of duty on one hand to the fascinating field of love on 
the other hand, and in such an exchange there was much for him 
to gain and nothing for him to lose. He was a teacher of the 
highest qualification and that breadth and depth of mind that 
enabled him to take such a high rank in the teachers' profession 
have enabled him to take a rank of even greater magnitude in the 
legal profession. 

A Capable Business Man. 

He is a business man as well as a lawyer, and he can manipulate 
to his advantage the business end of a proposition as well as he 
can elucidate before an untutored jury the basic principles of the 
law. He is one of the owners of the Jackson Drug Store of Jack- 
son, Miss., one of the well established pharmacies of the city. He 
and his brothers have a controlling interest in the stock of the 
American Savings Bank & Trust Company of the city of Jackson. 
He has an elegant home in the aristocratic section of the colored 
section of the city of Jackson, and lives in a style befitting a man 
of his professional success and ability. 

His Accomplished Wife. 
In the year of 1907, Lawyer Howard led to the altar Miss Wil- 
helmina Lucas, of Macon, Miss. Her mother, who was a Miss 
America Robinson, was the first female graduate of Fisk Univer- 
sity, Nashville, Tennessee, and a member of the original Fisk 
Jubilee Singers for five years. Mrs. Howard is a graduate of Fisk 
University, and had much experience in the teachers' profession. 
She was once a teacher in the literary department of Tuskegee Nor- 
mal Institute, and at another time slit- wis a teacher in the music 
department of Alcorn A. & M. College. She is a wife that makes 
her husband's interest paramount to all other interests. She is loyal 
to the interests of her talented and successful husband, devoted to 
the duties and comforts of her home, and still in touch with the 
muse which keeps music enshrined in the portals of her heart. 



312 />'/;. 1' <>.X LIGHTS "I' THE RA> E 

Ax Estimate ok the Subject. 

The writer could not fail to perceive and appreciate the intellec- 
tual gifts of Lawyer Howard, for such would be apparent to the 
veriest dolt. Both as a lawyer and a citizen he represents the high- 
est type of manhood and moral worth. He has hardly reached his 
prime in the practice of his profession, and it is hardly out of the 
bounds of reason to expect him to become one of the greatest lawyers 
in the history of the commonwealth of Mississippi, a State famous 
for its production both of great men and celebrated practitioners 
before the bar of public justice. Lawyer Howard is of comely 
appearance. He is affable, genial and pleasant, but withal there 
is beneath the surface the keen, penetrating sight of the peerless 
lawyer that he is. 

It has been the good fortune of but few young lawyers to estab- 
lish themselvs so thoroughly in public confidence as has the able 
subject of this sketch, in the comparatively few years of his prac- 
tice in the State of Mississippi. Many lawyers of vastly longer 
experience have not succeeded in accomplishing one-half as much 
as he has accomplished in either a professional or material way. 
That he has bad extraordinary success in his profession is demon- 
strated by his excellent and growing practice, for he is one of the 
hading lawyers of the bar of Jackson. 

Lawyer Howard is peculiarly adapted by temperament for suc- 
cess in the practice of his profession. lie has had the literary 

training; he has had the legal training, and he has undying confi- 
dence in his ability to look well after the interests of his client, and 
confidence under such conditions is nine points in his favor. 

The Howard family never likes to play a subordinate part to 
any one in any venture requiring intelligence of a high order. They 
must be given leadership or nothing at all. They are all men of the 
brightest intellects and capable of giving a satisfactory account of 
themselves in every honorable walk of life. 

The worthy subject of this sketch is not only the legal luminary 

of the Howard family, but lie is the legal light of the community, 

iiid th. whole community is proud of his legal attainments. That 

he has gained success from a mat-rial standpoint is shown by the 

capital he has invested in business enterprises of the race. " The 
oame of Howard is a lodestone to exert its influence not only in 
the legal affairs of the community, but also in the business affairs 
()t " •'" Bame. He is both a great lawyer and an able financier, and 
in both relationships he is an ornament to the race to which he 
belongs. 




BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 313 



A. L. Fleming, Edmondson, Ark. 

Secretary-Bookkeeper Edmondson Home & Improvement 

Company. 

1 T THE foundation of every enterprise that has achieved 
any degree of success there is some one man that is 
endowed by nature with a genius for hard and unremit- 
ting labor. Any number of enterprising and aggressive 
business men may combine their material resources for the purpose 
of promoting any business enterprise, but in the final analysis the 
burden of the responsibility will inevitably fall on the shoulders 
of one single individual. Responsibility has proved to be the making 
of thousands of worthy, successful men. and for this reason is 
one of the world's greatest blessings. In this sketch there is pre- 
sented to the reading public the name of a man whose labors to 
promote the welfare of the race are worthy of undying apprecia- 
tion. He has been the fifth wheel in a business enterprise of far- 
reaching beneficence, and has proved invaluable, not only to the inter- 
ests of the great company whose success he has so greatly pro- 
moted, but to the whole Negro population of his communitv and 
State. 

A Native of Virginia. 

The subject of this sketch. Mr. A. L. Fleming, is a native of 
the State of Virginia, and was born in Roanoke. February 8, 1866. 
His sojourn in his native State was of short duration, as he quit the 
Old Dominion State and moved to the State of Arkansas, October 
10, 1870. when he was a mere lad of four years. His father was 
induced by the glowing reports which had been carried back to the 
old State of Virginia to venture West with his family to better his 
condition. So the father moved from Roanoke, Va., to Edmondson, 
Ark., in the year of 1870, and thus had the honor of being one of 
the earliest post-bellum settlers to emigrate to the State of Arkansas. 

His Education. 

The major part of the literary training of the subject was 
received in the common schools of Crittenden County. Arkansas. 
He always had a sort of natural aptitude for books and education, 
and it was a dangerous experiment to leave any books about him if 
their contents were not to be known. He is more a self-made man 
than one who was blessed with any unusual educational advantages. 



514 



BEACON LIGHTS OF TLIE RACE 




A. L, FLEMING 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 315 

I x Pedagogic vl Harness. 

The subject taught school in his native State from 1887 until 
1903, when lie abandoned the profession to begin his business career. 
He was highly esteemed as a capable teacher, and there were, no 
(louht. many regrets when he elected to pursue a business career. 

A Graduate of a Business College. 

Many years ago the father of the subject was one of tin' Leading 
merchants of Edmondson, Ark., but it was the father's experience 
that the best results can not be achieved in business life without a 
business education. So it was the wisdom of both father and son 
that the son should be thoroughly prepared for business by a course 
of instruction in a first-class business college. With this object in 
view the subject went to Delaware. Ohio, in the year of 18<)1 and 
took a course of instruction in bookkeeping and penmanship in the 
National Business College, from which he received his diploma of 
graduation in the same year. For twenty years he has been one 
of the most capable bookkeepers and accountants in the South, and 
his splendid knowledge of business and business principles has 
been invaluable to the company with which he has so long been 
connected in a business capacity. He is one of the most artistic 
penmen that the South affords, and his business knowledge is on a 
parity with his elegant handwriting. 

Secretary-Bookkeeper Edmondson Home & Improvement 

Company. 

Since the year of 1.00.". the subject has been actively connected 
with the Edmondson Home & Improvement Company as its Secre- 
tarv and Bookkeeper, and the phenomenal success of the company 
has been due in a large measure to his excellent business training 
and splendid judgment, both as to men and measures. Through 
the efforts of this enterprising company the town of Edmondson 
has been made a strictly Xegro settlement, and the world has been 
given an opportunity to see and judge the capacity of the race for 
self-government. 

A General Promoter. 

In addition to being the master spirit in connection with the 
development and growth of the town of Edmondson, Ark., tin 
subject is Secretary-Treasurer of the People's Telephone Company 
of Edmondson. He is a director of tin- Edmondson Klectric Com- 
pany. He is also a director of the Fraternal Savings Bank & Trust 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

( ompany of Memphis, Tennessee. He is interested in oil well 
in\ > stments in < >klahoma. 



Prominent in Religious and Fraternal Work. 

The .subject is one of the most influential laymen in his com- 
munity. Hi' is a member of the Hoard of Trustees and the Board 
of Stewards of Campbell Chapel A. M. E. Church of Edmondson. 
Ark., and lie has served as Superintendent of the Sunday School 
of the same church since the year of 1896. He is one of the leading 
mi mbers of the Masons. Odd Fellows and other fraternal organiza- 
tions of his community. 

The First Partner of His Sorrows and Joys. 

Very soon after reaching man's estate, or November -28. 1888, 
the worthy subject of this sketch was united in marriage to Miss 
Lizzie T. Waterford, the beloved and estimable daughter of Mr. 
Thomas and Mrs. Harriet Waterford, of Edmondson. Ark. She 
was a woman of sterling worth and character, and her dear parents 
win- the first members of the race to buy a home for themselves 
in that community. This devoted wife was carried to her reward 
duly 30, 1896, and left one son. Mr. Clarence Hillman Fleming, 
including her husband, to mourn her untimely demise. 

Began Life Anew in 1900. 

"Time hath no sorrows that heaven can not heal." This is indeed 
true of most mortal beings, and an all-wise Providence has made 
tins fortunate condition possible. The subject made his second 
matrimonial venture February 15, 1900, when he was united in the 
holy bonds of wedlock to Mrs. Ella Haralson, of Cotton Plant. 
Ark. She is a woman of admirable qualities, and has brought to 
In r husband much of that inspiration that has had so much to do 

with his present success. She is not only the Supreme Governess 

of her own household, but she is the Grand Governess of the Col- 

i red Woodmen of Arkansas. She is enterprising and resourceful, 
and will cheerfully assist her devoted husband to rise to the very 
zenith of successful achievement. Her bright little daughter, Miss 
I ' una A. Fleming, is the joy of the home. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



317 



A Prominent and Useful Citizen. 

The subject is out- of the most prominent and one of the most 

successful men of his community. His versatile ability makes him 
the most serviceable in every respect that the community has ever 
had. He is closely identified with the social, religious and business 
life of his community, and wields an influence that is second to no 
other man. He is a man of considerable wealth, as is evidenced by 




RESIDENCE OF A. L. FLEMING 
KD.Mi >NDS< i\, ARK. 



LENNA ANNA FLEMING 



the fact that he is the owner of one hundred and twenty acres oi 
the best land in Crittenden County. He has much valuable prop- 
erty at Wynne. Ark. He is a land speculator, and has made fabu- 
lous sums off the lands that have been delegated to him to dispose 

of in the real estate market. He has worked in season and out of 
season to bring prosperity to his community, and he has merited his 
every success, prosperity and happiness. 






BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




u \l. DRISKELI. 



BEACON LIGHT8 OF THE RACE 

William Driskell, Atlanta, Ga. 
Secretary-Manageb Union Mutual Association. 




; ROM an humble log cabin to the presidency of the United 
States is a great jump even for an American white man. 
whose very color makes the exalted office of the presi- 
dent of the United States of America a possibility, but 
from an humble log cabin to the executive head of a great insurance 
company is, in comparison, none the less in magnitude of honor for 
an American colored man. 

Born in a Lot; Cabin in Alabama. 

The worthy subject of this narrative. Mr. William Driskell. lays 
claim to the honor of having been born in an humble log cabin in 
the picturesque State of Alabama, and he first shrieked out his 
infant wail in the piney woods of Dallas County, November 15, 
1871. 

Had Meagre Educational Advantages. 

His parents were of that unfortunate class whose inheritance 
had been slavery, with all the disadvantages that were incident 
thereto, and consequently the youth did not enjoy the educational 
advantages of this blessed modern day. The meagre circumstances 
of his parents and the short duration of the school term way back 
in the interior of Dallas County made his early educational advan- 
tages of a very limited character. Having attended the three 
months' session of the ancient school on the old Henry place for a 
few terms, the youth quit the old neighborhood and went to Burrell 
Academy, Selma, Alabama, for one session. This one session at 
Burrell Academy was the culmination of his school career, and left 
nothing more for him to do but go out in the busy school of hard, 
rough work and make his own way by the sweat of his own brow. 

RorciiiNG It in Life. 

The subject quit school in the year of 1888, and for six years 
he engaged in all kinds of labor, from working as waiter in a hotel, 
bootblack in barber shop and porter in grocery store, to the respon- 
sible position of digging in a coal mine. It is a long lane that has 
no turn, and this fact applied especially to Mr. William Driskell. 
who having for six years sailed his little craft about uncertain 
seas, through the kindness of a noble friend. Dr. T. W. Walker, 
finally entered the harbor of success. 



320 BEACON LIGHTS <>F THE RACE 

A Benefactor to the Rescue. 

In the year of 1894 the subject of this sketch connected him- 
self in the insurance business in the cit \- of Birmingham, Alabama, 
with his kind friend and benefactor, Dr. T. W. Walker. For rive 
years he acted as agent tor the company in the city of Birmingham. 

Of course. Mr. Driskell appreciated greatly the changed statu-, of 
his life and he strove to perform his duties with fidelity to the 
interest of his company and his employer. He put into his efforts 
for the company all of the energy and determination that the fresh, 
pure air and piney woods of his native county had instilled into his 
being, and his effective work so commended him to the executive 
head of the company that he was promoted to the position of trav- 
eling representative of the company for the State of Alabama, and 
served in that capacity for .about two years, or until the vear of 
1901. His duty as traveling representative for the State of Ala- 
bama was to inspect and regulate the various agencies of the com- 
pany throughout the State. In this second official capacity with this 
company his work was of such a character as to entitle him to a 
second promotion. 

He Won His Promotion. 

The real secret of success in every department of life is to do 
one's work well and "make good." This has been the cardinal 
principle that has actuated Mr. Driskell in everything that he has 
ever attempted. Therefore, when the Union Mutual Association 
expanded and extended its operations into the State of Georgia, Mr. 
William Driskell. of all the other capable and worthy representa- 
tives of the company, was chosen to manage the affairs of' the com- 
pany in the Empire State of the South, and he has presided over the 
destinies of the company in the State of Georgia since 1<)01. 

Tin: Status of the Company. 

The I oion Mutual Association is the pioneer insurance company 
of the Negro race in the State of Georgia. It blazed the pathway 
through doubt and prejudice, demonstrated the administrative ability 
of the race, inspired confidence in its stability by being faithful to 
every promise, and established its operation upon such a high plane 
as to merit the confidence and patronage of the best citizens of the 
State ot Georgia. Other companies of like character have come 

into the field ot' business, but none ot' them have ever attained 
to the vigor and strength of the parent organization. It stands tod iv 

as solid -is the Gibraltran rock in the confidence and esteem of the 

people ot the State ot' Georgia, and the wise administration ami 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 321 

indefatigable efforts of Mr. William Driskell have been all-powerful 

in bringing about this condition of affairs. 

Branch Offices Over the State. 

As Manager of the company for tbc State of Georgia, he has 
forty branch offices scattered all over the State, and these different 
departments necessitate the employment of over one hundred and 
fifty people. The home office of the company is in the city of 
Atlanta, and maintains a force of thirty-five clerks, bookkeepers, 
stenographers and the like of both sexes. The company gives 
remunerative employment to worthy people in all the walks of life, 
and has on its staff college graduates, ministers of the gospel, as 
well as representatives from many of the humbler callings of life. 
It has been a Godsend to the fortunes of many, who had been 
merely eking out a precarious existence before their employment 
by this company. Some men whose former weekly stipend was not 
more than three or four dollars are now making as high as twenty 
or more dollars for the same time. Of course, the earning power 
of a man in any kind of business depends upon the man's efficiency 
and consequently some agents are far more successful than others. 
But one of the happiest results of the insurance business, outside 
of the direct purpose for which it was organized, is the great field 
of high class employment that it opens up to worthy educated young 
men and women, and such companies are worthy of patronizing if 
for no other purpose than to provide employment for the ambitious, 
educated and worthy young people of the race. 



The Company's Handsome Business. 

The Union Mutual Association, through its one hundred and fifty 
employes, operates all over the State of Georgia, and has an annual 
income amounting to $125,000. This is a highly gratifying result, 
and gives some idea of the hold the company has on the confidence 
of the people. The management of the company has ever been con- 
servative and business-like. It has sought by legitimate methods to 
build up an organization whose ideals and strength could command 
the confidence and support of all classes <»(' citizens. It has not 
resorted to any wildcat or get-rich-quick schemes to attract money 
to its coffers, but it has been content to pursue its operations along 
the line of up-to-date business methods, which are in tin final analy- 
sis the surest basis for success. 






322 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Dr. T. W. Walker the Founder. 

The company has been especially fortunate in its official and 
managerial heads. Dr. T. W. Walker, the official head of the 
company, is a man that is universally known and respected, and his 
name is a household word throughout the whole States of Alabama 
and Georgia. He has always occupied a firm hold in the affections of 
the people of both the States of Alabama and Georgia, and he was 
the one man of the raee to organize such an insurance company and 
build it up ill the confidence of the race. He is a minister of the 
gospel, and has worked in the vineyard of the Master for the 
greater part of his long and useful lite. He has not only been a 
source of spiritual inspiration and uplift to the race, but he his 
blazed the way in many of the most successful business enterprises 
of the race. In the city of Birmingham, where he resides, he is 
respected and honored as few men of the race have ever been. For 
more than a generation he has seined as pastor of Shiloh Baptist 
Church, one of the largest and best known churches of the Baptist 
denomination in the State of Alabama, and in this capacity he has 
done untold good for the moral, spiritual and material interests 
of the race. 

A Tribute to Dr. T. W. Walker. 

In connection with this humble tribute to the work and worth 
of Dr. T. W. Walker, it may be timely, at this point in this narra- 
tive, to pay this additional tribute to Dr. Walker from his most 
grateful friend and manager, Mr. William Driskell. The time to 
bestOW appreciation and tribute upon people is in the course ot 
their lifetime, and therefore Dr. Driskell is delighted with the 
opportunity thus publicly to express his deep gratitude to Dr. T. 
W. Walker for the doctor's kindness and personal interest in Mr. 
Driskell, extending over a period of many years. He has not 
the gift of Language fully to express to Dr. Walker the gratitude 
that he feels from the very depths of his heart. Dr. Walker came 
to Mr. Driskell's rescue when Mr. Driskell was a very young man. 
took him into his employment, encouraged him. believed ill him. 
trusted him. honored him and placed in his hands the management 
of the company's interests for the whole State of Georgia. Mr. 
Driskell feels that if it had not been for the kindly interest of his 
friend and benefactor he would most likely have been digging in a 
coal mini- in the State of Alabama until this day. 

A Business Man <>i the First Magnitude. 

That Mr. Driskell has a great capacity for work i- attested by 
the vast number of interests with which he is connected. He is a 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 323 

veritable omnibus, in which all the enterprises of the race are taking 
a rich- to success. He is a man of rare judgment and executive 

ability, or he never could have perfected and systematized the busi- 
ness of his great company to the extent that he has. He certainly 
gave evidence of his executive and administrative ability to Dr. 
Walker, or he would never have been chosen to fill the responsible 
position that he lias so long filled in the city of Atlanta. His 
business relationships are extensive. He is President of the Atlanta 
Independent Publishing Company; he is President of the Gate 
City Millinery & Dry Goods Company; he is President of the 
Young Men's Chrfstian Association of Atlanta; he is Vice-President 
and Treasurer of the Pharrow Construction Company, that erected 
a forty thousand dollar building for Atlanta Baptist College; he 
is the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Atlanta State Sav- 
ings Bank. He is one of the most prominent fraternity leaders of 
the city of Atlanta, and is identified more or less with all of the 
fraternities. He is State Endowment Treasurer of the Grand 
L'nited Order of Odd Fellows for Georgia. He fs also Chairman 
of the Trustee Board of the lodge of Elks. 



Prominent in Religious Work. 

Mr. Driskell is prominently connected with church work. He is 
a member of the Deacons and Trustee Boards of Friendship Baptist 
Church, one of the leading churches of the denomination in the 
State of Georgia, and he is the Assistant Superintendent of the 
Sunday School of the same church. Thus it may be seen that 
Mr. Driskell is a man of lar^e affairs in the city of Atlanta. 



His Work is His Pleasure. 

It is a rule of life that those who can and will do must do. and 
this fact certainly holds good in the 'career of Mr. William Driskell. 
He has the ability to do his best and the inclination to do his best, 
and that is the reason why he occupies such a conspicuous place 
in the social and business life of the Gate City of the South. Ib- 
has made work a business as well as a pleasure, and has always 
tried to do his best. His business activity and thrift have earned 
their reward and Mr. Driskell has long since been rated anions* the 
solid men of his adopted city. His future prospects seem as bright 
as those of any man in the city of Atlanta. He is in the very prime 
of life and is surrounded with every incentive to do his best. 



324 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

His Es i imable Wife. 

In the month of January. 1901, Mr. Driskell, as a partner for 
life, united in marriage with Miss Mabel Wilson, of Atlanta. Ga. 
She was a student of Spellman Seminary, Atlanta. Georgia, and a 
teacher in the public schools of Georgia tor a short time. His 
estimable companion is a great worker in the church, and devoted 
to the welfare of her husband and home. 

A Tribute to His Mother. 

To many people it may he a source of wonder why Mr. Driskell 
has made such rapid strides up the ladder of success. In addition 
to the encouragement of a faithful wife, he has the loving inspira- 
tion of a dear mother, who is still living, to cheer and bless his 
life. Though Mr. Driskell should live a thousand years, he can 
never forget how his dear mother worked, struggled and sacrificed 
herself on the altar of duty for the welfare of her children. Well 
does he remember how that loving mother worked and toiled way 
back in the pint y woods of Alabama in order that he might enjoy 
the privileges and honors that he today enjoys. He wants the 
world to know his appreciation and love for his mother, and that 
as long as he has an ounce of strength or a penny in his purse his 
dear mother shall not have a single want. The writer considers Mr. 
Driskell om dt' the highest types of progressive and successful men 
in the city of' Atlanta, and he is delighted to present such a deserv- 
ing man to tin reading public. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 325 

J. If. Barabin, ././>.. M.I)., Marianna, Arkansas. 




HK State of Louisiana is not only tin- land of the sweet- 
scented magnolia and the .succulent sugar cane, but it is 
the birthplace of many of the ablest and most eminent 
men in the history of the nation, irrespective of race. 
Its contribution to the galaxy of the race's greatness has been 
generous, and the name of Louisiana is indicative of all that is best 
and greatest in the history of the Negro race. The refrain of the 
songs that have been composed and dedicated to the memory of 
the State is a rhapsody of sugar cane, orange blossom and mag- 
nolias, and one would judge by the character of the musical compo- 
sitions in honor of the State that Louisiana is a sort of semi-tropical 
land of sleepers and dreamers. Such, however, is not the case, for 
the State has many of the widest awake, most aggressive and most 
progressive men in the Southland. Of the many worthy, able and 
successful young men of the race that claim Louisiana as the State 
of their nativity, the talented, progressive and prosperous subject 
of this sketch. Dr. J. H. Barabin. is one of the most conspicuous. 
He was born at Jeannerette on La Tache Bayou, in the Parish of 
Iberia, La., March 19, 1874. 

His Early Struggle With the Three R's. 

The greater part of his elementary education was received under 
the instruction of a white ex-Union soldier, who began his career as a 
schoolmaster among colored children of the parish directly after the 
conclusion of the Civil War. and this veteran pedagogue is still 
laboring in the same capacity among the people whom he has served 
so long and so faithfully. This veteran white teacher, whose humble 
efforts have been so closely interwoven in the lives of so many of 
the boys and girls of the race, made no pretentions to being a 
learned man. for his intellectual storehouse was sadly in need of 
mental pabulum. He had a mere smattering of the Three R's, and 
he never ventured beyond his depths even in those branches. Dr. 
Barabin began his student life under such unfavorable circumstances, 
and it was marvelous that he accomplished as much as he did. 

Found His Way to Gilbert Academy. 

In the month of January. 1890, in some mysterious way, the 
future doctor learned of the existence of Gilbert Academy, located 
at Baldwin. Louisiana, about twenty miles from his home. Anxious 
to improve his mind, and determined to gain an education, he hade 
farewell to his home community, wended his way to his new-found 



326 



BE ACQS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




I>K. J. 11. BARA1UN 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 327 

hope and entered therein to gain the education that he had already 
coveted. He began his student life at Gilbert Academy in the 
month of January. 1890, and continued his studies there at irregu- 
lar intervals until the year of 1895. His irregularity in attend- 
ance was due to the fact that he had to maintain himself. lie was 
not blessed with wealthy parents, to whom he might have looked for 
assistance, but he had to bear the burden and heat of the day to 
make a way for himself. His progress while a student was so 
pronounced that he was encouraged to pursue a higher course of 
training. He gave much evidence of those higher powers of mind 
lor which he became noted in the subsequent days of his student 
life in the great college from which he gained his diploma. He 
was a student of Gilbert Academy for five years, and so well did 
he succeed in the mastery of his studies that when he severed his 
connection with Gilbert Academy for the purpose of entering Fisk 
University, he was able to matriculate in the senior preparatory class. 

A Graduate of Fisk University. 

The subject of this sketch matriculated as a student of Fisk 
University in the year of 1895. While an ambitious student at 
Gilbert Academy it was his happy privilege to be thrown in con- 
tact with several of the cultured and talented representatives of 
Fisk University, and so deep and abiding was the influence of those 
able sons and worthy daughters of Fisk University that he was 
induced to go to that institution to complete the education that he 
was determined to possess. His student life at Fisk University 
was as pleasant as it was profitable, and he had a blanket mortgage 
on the popularity of the school. He entered heartily into the inner 
life of the university, and became an exponent of all that was 
brightest and best in the life of the student body. There was 
hardly an honor that was not his during the five years of his life as 
a student at Fisk University. His prowess was felt in the arena 
of debate in the literary societies: he was a dashing favorite in the 
social circles of the college, and he was a scintillating star of the 
first magnitude on the college football team. The doctor's physique 
has the girth and stamina of a real athlete, and in his tiger-like 
rushes in a football contest it was not surprising that he carried 
consternation and woe in his pathway. 

The doctor considers the five years that he spent as a student 
of Fisk University as one of the greatest blessings of his life, and 
notwithstanding the many other great luminaries of learning that 
are scattered over this country, affording countless advantages and 
opportunities for the ambitious youth, yet if the doctor had to 
live again his college life he would but the more joyfully go back 
to dear and hallowed old Fisk Universitv. Fisk Universitv has 



328 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

done .-in inestimable amount of good for thousands of the race 
during the many years of labor among the colored people of this 
country, and the race would not be true to the instincts of appre- 
ciation for services rendered in its behalf it' it did not hold in 
deepest reverence and reneration the worthy, cons, crated men and 
women that have willingly sacrificed their lives on the altar of the 
race's happiness. The doctor used well his golden opportunities 
while he was a student of lisk University, and in spite of the 
handicap of poverty he was able to graduate with honor from this 
grand old pioneer college of the race June l.'!. 1900, receiving the 
time-honored degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

Decided to Study Medicine. 

Having been thrown in contact with the inspiring influences of 
lisk University for five years, it was but natural that the future 
disciple of Aesculapius should have imbibed much of the ambition 
and determination characteristic of so many of the worthy young 
students of that institution. Me had received his degree from one 
of the Leading educational institutions of the land, and lie there- 
fore considered his foundation substantial enough on which to erect 
a strong and durable professional structure. After careful deliber- 
ation he decided to take up the study of medicine, inasmuch as he 
found the study to be high-class in its requirements and great in 
its possibilities. After deciding to pursue the study of medicine, 
the next matter to be considered was the college which the ambitious 
WOuld-be medical student should attend. He determined not to 
make a mistake in the selection of a college: so he decided to look 
up the professional rating and standing of some of the leading 
medical colleges of the city of Chicago. III. Not only is the city 
of Chicago one of the great population centers of the world, but it 
is one of the greatest medical school centers in the world. Its 
clinical advantages are first class, and in connection with its pecu- 
liar climate, no other city in the world can boast of greater natural 
advantages lor the study of medicine. Having carefully looked into 
the merits of the various medical colleges of the city of Chicago, 
the Illinois Medical College was selected by him as the ideal medical 
college, both for the highesl standard of excellence and the reason- 
able cost to the medical student in straightened circumstances. 

A Graduate of Illinois Medii vi College. 

The future doctor matriculated at the Illinois Medical College 

and remained there as a student for tour years, or until his ar i 
ation in tin year of 1905. In addition to the regular diploma of 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE /.'./' E 329 

graduation, the subject of this sketch received a special diploma, 
which was granted to him for excellence in scholarship while atten- 
ing the medical school. This special diploma is conferred only 
upon those students who have the honor of averaging a percentage 
of at least 90 in all of the studies of the curriculum during an 
attendance of four years at the college. Up to the year of 1905 
this special diploma had been awarded to but thirteen students in 
the history of the medical college. The special diploma that was 
awarded to Dr. Barabin was the first to be granted to a Negro 
graduate by the college authorities up to that time, and in the 
year of the doctor's graduation there were only two upon whom the 
great honor was conferred, a wdiite gentleman and Dr. Barabin. 

Back to Dixie to Practice Medicine. 

Dr. Barabin graduated from the Illinois Medical College, May 
2, 1905, after four long years of unremitting and consecrated effort. 
He quit the city of Chicago on May 5, 1905, and went South to the 
capital city of the State of Arkansas, Little Rock, where he passed 
the examination and secured his license to practice his profession 
in the State of Arkansas. It had been his desire to locate in the 
State of Arkansas, so just as soon as he had secured his license to 
practice he went his way prospecting for his future professional 
home. Having visited several of the cities, towns and communities 
of the State, it was the wisdom of his choice to locate in the town of 
Marianna, Arkansas. He selected the State of Arkansas as the field 
of his professional labors because of the prevalence of lowland and 
miasmatic diseases in its borders. 

His Professional Success. 

The success of Dr. Barabin has been extraordinary, both from a 
professional and material standpoint, and he has proven himself to 
be one of the leading physicians of the State. His practice is so 
extensive that it requires the constant use of four horses and it 
covers a great deal of the country in which hi' lives. His reputation 
as a successful physician is not restricted to his home county, but 
it extends to the whole State. His admittance to the ranks of the 
medical practitioners of the State of Arkansas was very auspicious, 
for at the conclusion of his medical examination in the State the 
secretary of the Medical Examining Board complimented Dr. Bara- 
bin for having passed the most creditable examination among col- 
ored applicants, and the second best examination among both colored 
and white applicants before the Medical Board of Examiners. 



330 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

A Si i i essful Business Man. 

Thi business succi ss of Dr. Barabin has been so pronounced that 
his experience seems more like a dream than an actual reality. 
When he landed in the town of Marianna in the summer of 1905 the 
Mini total of' his financial possessions was about forty dollars ($40) 
dt borrowed money which a kind friend had advanced to him to 
• cable him to keep his head above the waves until his little financial 
craft could safely weather the gale- into the harbor of professional 
success. Note the remarkable change in the financial status of the 
doctor in the short period that has elapsed since the year 1905. 
He now pays taxes on $20,000 worth of property in the form of 
real estate. He is a director of the Mound Bayou Oil Manufactur- 
ing Company. He is one of the leading promoters of the Colored 
Progressive Land & Improvement Company. He is the owner of 
fourteen lots in the town of Marianna, eight of which are improved 
property. He owns 283 acres of rich farming land, on which there 
are five houses. The remarkable feature about the possessions of 
Dr. Barabin is that he does not owe a man a single penny for any 
property that is in his possession. 

Professional Honors. 

Many honors have been conferred upon Dr. Barabin by his grate- 
ful and appreciative fellow citizens since the beginning of his pro- 
fessional career in the State of Arkansas. He is President of the 
Board of Directors of the Provident Hospital and Nurse Training 
School of Arkansas. For three years in succession he has been 
honored with election to tin presidency of the Arkansas Association 
of Negro Physicians, Surgeons. Dentists and Pharmacists. When 
it is considered that over 90 per cent, of the medical practitioners of 
the State of Arkansas are graduates of Meharry Medical Collegl 
and that the worthy President is an alumnus of a different college 
altogether, the high honor that has been conferred upon him be- 
comes the more apparent. 

Moreover, the election of Dr. Barabin for three- years in suc- 
« < ssion is unprecedented in the- annals of the- society during its 
professional existence of eiver eighteen years. He- is an ideal man 
fe.r the- position, «>r else it would not have- been SO eagerly bestowed 

upon him for so many t< rms in succession. So consuming has been 
the desiri em the- part of the- great majority of the- members of the 
association to retain th<- subject of this ske te-h in the position which 
hi has so signally honored that there has been no candidate to run 
for the office in opposition t < » Dr. Barabin. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 331 

His Devoted and Talented Wife. 

On the 28th of December, in the year of 1905, the distinguished 

subject of this sketch had his first stroke of real luck when he suc- 
ceeded in prevailing upon Miss L. M. Benson, of Kowaliga, Ala., to 
forsake the beautiful, natural scenery of her native State of Ala- 
I .una and come to the State of Arkansas to share her happiness and 
her responsibilities with him in his new home. Mrs. Barabin is an 
accomplished musician, and has but few equals in her profession. 
She is of a musical turn of mind, and has studied her art in some 
of the leading conservatories of the country. She studied music 
at Tuskegee. Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and th. New England 
Conservatory of Music. Her literary education was received mainly 
at Tuskegee Normal Institute and Fisk University. The doctor's 
enthusiasm and loyalty to Fisk University are due not only to the 
splendid education that he received under the fostering care of his 
alma mater, but also to the fact that he met his dear wife and 
companion at the same old institution of learning. His loving 
wife braved the dangers of a malarial climate in the State of Arkan- 
sas soon after the doctor's location in the State, and whatever of 
success that he has achieved in his profession has been due to her 
willing co-operation and encouragement. She is an excellent woman, 
and has proved herself to be a woman that is not only prepared 
to do her part in the affairs of life, but willing to do what she can 
for the uplift and betterment of others. The home of Dr. and 
Mrs. Barabin has been blessed with two children, a boy and a girl. 

Once a Schoolmaster. 

The doctor essayed the role of a pedagogue at different times in 
his student career. During his vacations he taught school at Lake 
Charles. La., in tin year of 1891, and at Tiptonville. Tenn., in the 
years of 1896-7-8. There can not be much speculation as to the 
ability of the doctor as a disciplinarian, for a pedagogue of his 
mammoth physique and leonine voice is calculated to command more 
than passing notice. The proportions of the popular doctor resemble 
those of the representatives of the big trust magnates, and it is 
possible that nature has been preparing him in gigantic size so 
that he may wear with becoming grace the honors of the men into 
whose class he has been so slowly yet surely drifting. 

One of the Most Popi-lar Men in His State. 

Of the many splendid and talented men whom the writer has 
met in the course of the past decade, he does not recollect a single 



$32 



BEAi ON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



one who has greater elements of personal popularity than the 
worthy and able subject of this sketch. He is the apostle of sun- 
shine and proper living. He believes in the cheery smile and the 
hi arty Laugh. It is no exaggeration to state that Dr. J. Barabin 

is one of the most popular men that ever lived in the State of 
Arkansas. He is a man to whom the poorest and the humblest may 
come with the assurance of receiving every courtesy that can !>■• 
conferred upon them. The name of Barabin seems to have cast a 
spell over the good people of the State of Arkansas, tor they seem to 
vie with each other in conferring upon him every possible considera- 
tion and honor. The doctor has a remarkable faculty for recol- 
lecting names and faces. He is a gentleman so utterly without pre- 
tension that the humblest are received on terms of perfect familiar- 
ity. He is a man to whom it is not necessary for a poor man to 
be introduced every time the poor man may come in contact with 
him. The doctor has earned his high standing in social, professional 
and financial circles. His success has been phenomenal along all 
worthy lines and will be even more pronounced with the coming 
vears. 





BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 333 



Rev. I). J. Mitchell, Franklin, Tenn. 

Chief Grand Mentor Knights and Daughters of Tabor, 
Jurisdiction of Tennessee. 

HE success nt' any institution depends primarily upon the 
intelligence and worthiness of the men that are honored 
with its leadership. 'Flic very presence of some men as 
representatives and leaders in any cause is a guarantee 
that the cause they espouse or the institution they recommend is 
deserving of the respect, esteem and confidence of the people. A 
clean man in character will give a clean administration, and it is 
just as impossible to divorce the actions of a man from his real 
character as it is to separate object and shadow. This is the life 
story of a clean man. a righteous man, a man whose way is wisdom 
and his pathway peace. 

Born in the Old Volunteer State. 

The honored and worthy minister who has. for such a long time, 
held the fortune of a great and growing fraternity in his official 
hands, is a native of the old Volunteer State, and first heheld the 
orb of dav in the thriving- little town of Columbia. He is in every 
respect a representative Tennesseaix. and a man whom the people 
of his native State are proud to enroll in the ranks of the State's 
native sons. 

His Education. 

The early educational training of the subject was received in 
the public schools of Maury County. Tenn. His advantages were 
poor, and he had to attend school in a very irregular and very 
unsatisfactory manner. Even when a boy the subject had an 
ambition to learn and to be something creditable and worthy in 
life, and he had the grit to persevere until his ambition was realized. 

A Student of Walden University. 

His life was spent on a farm until he had nearly attained to his 
majority, when by dint of self-denial and perseverance alone he 
was able to enter Walden University. Xasliville. Tenn.. as a student. 
He remained a student of this worthy institution of learning for 
four years, pursuing a literary and theological course. This oppor- 
tunitv was the greatest fortune of his life, because it prepared him 
to serve more intelligently the religious welfare of his people. He 
graduated from the Braden Bibb Training School and began his 
life work in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



$34 



BEACO.X LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




REV. I). |. MI 1'i'H! I I 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 335 

In the Service of the Government. 

The subject has always led an active business Life. For thirteen 
years he was a faithful employe in the United States mail service in 
Franklin, Tenn., and could have remained indefinitely in the ser- 
vice if he had elected to do so, and if his new responsibilities could 
have permitted it. 

Chief Grand Mentor in 1897. 

Since the year of 1897 he has served as Chief Grand Mentor of 
the Knights and Daughters of Tabor of the State of Tennessee, 
and his administration of the affairs of his exalted office has been 
so acceptable to the rank and file of the order that he has been 
honored with re-election each year until this time. This repeated 
endorsement is a great honor in any organization, and it is a sub- 
stantial tribute to the character and ability of the man. 

Recommended the Endowment Department. 
When he was elevated to the leadership of the Knights and 
Daughters of Tabor, the order had no endowment department what- 
soever. It was blindly going on in the same old way. looking 
after the sick and burying the dead. Within three years after 
assuming his duties at the head of this organization he had inaugur- 
ated the endowment department, which has grown to be one of the 
bulwarks of every first-class fraternity. Too much stress can not 
be put upon the benefits of the endowment department to any 
fraternitv. It is not only a blessing to the dead, but it is a consola- 
tion and a protection to the living. It is a sort of life insurance 
that makes for the comfort of those whom death has left behind and 
who, without this beneficent measure, would be thrown out on the 
cold charity of the world. It is a living endorsement of the prin 
ciplc that a fraternity should care for the living as well as weep 
over the dead. 

Progress of the Order. 

Under the wise leadership of Rev. D. J. Mitchell, the order has 
made a substantial, yes, a marvelous growth along all worthy lines. 
The death benefit allowance has been increased from $50 to $150, 
and the finances of the order are in such excellent condition that 
there will be quite a generous addition to the death allowance in 
a short time. The order has gained in membership, financial 
resources, wise policies and business methods, and holds its own 
with the best orders in the State. 

Clean as a Hotnd's Tooth. 

Too much credit can not be given to the matchless leadership of 
the subject, who has so skillfully guided the old craft over the bil- 



336 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE UACE 



lowy sea of experience to its haven of peace and prosperity. He 
is a patient, honest, God-fearing man. and entertains the most 
exalted conceptions of ri>:ht and duty. He is a man whose char- 
acter is as clean as a hound's tooth, and whose ability as a leader 
has heen tried in the crucible of more than fourteen years' service. 
He i-, an honest, upright citizen, and worthy of every honor that 
can be bestowed upon him. 

His Devoted Wife. 

In the balmy month of May. in the year of 1900, the subject was 
united in marriage to Miss Annie G. Young, of Franklin. Tenn. 
His estimable wife was educated at Walden University, Nashville, 
Tenn., and was an honored teacher in the common schools of Ten- 
nessee for several years. She is an active, enterprising woman and 
an indispensable factor in her husband's success. She is high in 
the councils of the order of which her husband is the Leading spirit. 
She is High Priestess of one of the tabernacles of the State of 
Tennessee, and she is in every essential respect an energetic, worthy 
w oman. 

The subject of this sketch has succeeded well in the material 
walks of life. He is the owner of one of the most attractive homes 
in the town of Franklin, Tenn. He has proved himself to be a 
wise and progressive leader, and for this reason there can be no 
doubt as to the successful character of the work that still needs 
to be done in the interest of the order. 




RESIDENCE Ol REV. D. I. MITCH] I I . PRANK] IN. MSN. 




BEACON LI GUTS OF THE RACE 337 

Rev. J. C. Martin. D.I)., Memphis, Tenn. 

Presiding Elder C. M. E. Churi k. 

1 T IS the good fortune of some men to succeed in every- 
thing that they undertake. Nature seems to have given 
them a scope of vision and a mental horizon greater by 
far than she has given to the generality of men, and 
this fact, no doubt, accounts for their uniform success. After all, 
the elements of success must lie in the man's character. Real suc- 
cess springs from within the individual, and not from external 
sources; it is an effect resulting from a cause, a monument that must 
be built by the individual himself. The life story herein narrated 
is the story of a successful man. and one who is proud to be iden- 
tified with the Negro race. It is the story of a man whose inde- 
pendent circumstances are not the result of a patrimony or of any 
other external cause, but they are the result of his own strong 
mind, energy of action and well known thrift. 

A Native of Tennessee. 

The reverend subject of this sketch is an honored member of 
that host of successful men that first saw the light of day on the 
farm. He is a native of the State of Tennessee, and was born 
near Trenton, Gibson County, February 8, 1865. His lamented 
father was a successful farmer, and the subject's life was spent in 
general touch with the old homestead until he had attained to his 
majority. 

His Literary Training. 

The elementary training of the subject Mas received in the com- 
mon schools of Gibson County. Tenn. After having completed the 
course of instruction in the Trenton Graded School, he took a 
course at Roger Williams University. Nashville, Tenn. 

A Schoolmaster in Tennessee. 

The men that are wisest in the affairs of the world, and also 
the best judges of human character, arc generally those who have 
had experience in the teachers' profession. If the subject is well 
versed in the .affairs of the world, his experience in the school 
room has played its part. It was his good fortune to serve the 
interest of his race tor several years in the teachers' profession. 
In the course of his experience as a schoolmaster he was principal 
of the Martin Colored Graded School for four rears, and his success 



338 



BEACON LIGHTS OF TUE R A / 




REV. I C. MARTIN, I' I' 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RA< /. 339 

in the teachers' profession was quite as pronounced as his success 

is in the gospel ministry. 

A Minister of the Gospel. 

The subject entered the ministry of the ('. M. K. Church in the 
month of December, 1890. He began at tin- very foot of the 
ministerial ladder and by slow and sure gradations he has worked 
his way to leadership in the councils of his church. For over a 
score of years he has labored in the gospel ministry, and has suc- 
ceeded on his merit- in winning a recognition that is enjoyed by 
very few of his ministerial colleagues. He has served some of the 
leading churches of his connection, and he is one of the few minis- 
ters of his branch of the church that has been permitted in every 
instance to remain the full limit of time prescribed by the discipline 
of the Episcopal body. 

His Leading Pastorati>. 

That the subject of this sketch was imbued with the ambition 
to go to the top of his calling, if possible, is evidenced by his rapid 
rise in his ej'urch. In the brief period of two years after his 
entrance to the ministry he was promoted from a minister in charge 
of a mission to the pastorate of Miles Memorial Chapel, Wash- 
ington. D. C, and he served in the capital of the nation from 1892 
to 1896. 

In the year of 1896 he was transferred to the South Carolina 
Conference and stationed at Sidney Park Church. Columbia, S. 
C, one of the most important charges in the connection. He served 
as pastor of Sidney Park Church from 1896 to 1901. In the year 
of 1901 he was transferred to the West Tennessee Conference and 
stationed at Collins Chapel C. M. E. Church. Memphis, Tennessee, 
where he remained from 1901 to 1905. The records of his church 
will show that he has served at hast four years in every pastorate 
since he became prominent in the ministry. This record is almost 
without a parallel in the history of his church, and gives some 
faint conception of his unusual ability as a minister and his extra- 
ordinary capacity for conservative and wise leadership. 

A Presiding Elder Since 1905. 

Having served acceptably three of the largest pastorates of his 
connection, covering a period of thirteen years, the worthy subject 
was appointed Presiding Elder of the South Memphis District in 
the year of I !»().">. and In- lias served in this capacity up to this 
time. As a Presiding Elder he has been an unqualified success. 



340 BE AC OS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

He believes in peace in God's tabernacles; his litV is a synonym 
for peace. As a general pacificator he has few superiors in any of 
the walks of life. 

Official Honors in the Ministry. 

Many honors have been conferred upon the subject by the 
appreciative members of his connection. In the year of 1901 he 
was a delegate to the Ecumenical Conference that was held in 
London, England. This was probably one of the greatest religious 
assemblies of modern times, and was attended by representatives 
from all over the Christian world. As there were only nine dele- 
gates that represented his church from the United States, the 
magnitude of the honor that was conferred upon him will be appar- 
ent to all. In the year of 1903 the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
was conferred upon him by Lane College. Jackson, Tenn. 

An Aiu.k BrsiNK.ss Man. 

It is generally admitted by all that the subject is one of the 
leading divines in his branch of the Christian church, and that in 
many respects his record in the gospel ministry is as creditable as 
it is unique. He is a man of versatile ability, and can handle the 
business end of a proposition as intelligently and as creditably as 
a man that had never studied the principles of anything else. He 
is not only a hading divine, but he is also one of the premier 
business men of the race. As a successful financier he has made 
a reputation that is second to none. .Many members of the cloth 

r- noted for their ability to build churches and get churches out 
of debt, but they have never been able to build up their own for- 
tunes or own a root' over their own heads. In other words, some 
of the ablest financial workers in tin domain of the church are 
abject failures in looking after their own financial welfare. The 
subject has been more prudent and more sensible, and has looked 
out for tin proverbial rainy day. He knows that sooner or later 
even a minister of the gospel loses his effectiveness in the pulpit, 
and then In must take a rear seat and let better men occupy the 
C< 1 1 1 1 r of the stage. He lias looked after the SUCCeSS of his religious 
work, and has done his whole duty to the financial welfare of his 
church, but he has not neglected his own financial needs. He is a 
"business preacher.'* and stands as high in the world of business 

ikI finance as Ik does in the councils of the church. 

President or Solvent Savings B\nk. 

In tin month of January, l.'Hl. the subject was elevated to the 

presidency of tin Solvent Savings Hank & Trust Company, of 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE Ml 

Memphis, Tennessee. This crowning business honor was a high 
tribute to his business ability, financial strength and sterling char- 
acter. It is the unanimous opinion of the stockholders and friends 
of the bank that no mistake was made in electing the subject to 
preside over the business deliberations of this well-known banking 
institution of the race. He has succeeded in infusing his person- 
ality in the affairs of the bank, and there lias become evident the 
practice of more liberal business policies and other improvements 
in harmony with sound and up-to-date business principles. He 
fits his position gracefully, and the affairs of the bank have already 
felt the quickening of his magical touch. 

A Large Property Holder. 

The subject is a man in independent circumstances, and is rated 
to be one of the wealthiest colored men of the city of Memphis. He 
has large property interests in various sections of the country. 
He has valuable property within three blocks of the Congressional 
Library in the city of Washington, D. C. He is the owner of ten 
pieces of improved property in the city of Memphis, and several 
lots alone. He is the owner of sixty acres of farm land in Gibson 
County, Tennessee, and one hundred and sixty acres of fertile 
farm land in Crittenden County, Arkansas. 

His Personality. 

Rev. J. C. Martin is eminently a man of the people. His nature 
has in it much of the milk of human kindness, and it is more than 
probable that he never willingly did a human being a particle of 
injury. While he does not throw his money to the birds, he is a 
man that is generous in his impulses and liberal in his generosity 
to worthy causes. He makes no show of his charitable nature, but 
there are many grateful hearts that would be only too glad to 
testify to his kindness and liberality if it were necessary. He is a 
man that is big in body, mind and heart, and that has every essen- 
tial element of leadership for his people in the general walks of life. 



342 



BEA( ".V LH.ll I - 01 I III'. BAi /. 



//. II'. Doxey, Holly Springs, Miss. 



Mehchant. 

IFE is a harp of a thousand strings, each one of which 
is responsive to tin- magic touch of the Mill. Whatever 
in reason a man wills to be or to accomplish is in the 
range of possibility, for the invincible will is the seat 

of all dominion and power. This narrative is the lite story of a man 
whose chief asset has ever been his indomitable will. He never 





ii. w. doxev 



had the opportunities in life with which thousands of others were 
blessed, bul he has used nature's endowment to the best of his 
ability, and has made a name and fame for himself which are the 
brightest treasure of his life. 



His Nativity. 

Mr. H. \V. Doxey is a native of the State of Mississippi, and 
was horn on a farm near New Albany in the vear of is;.;. He 



BEACON Lin UTS OF THE RACE 443 

lived on a farm until he was twenty- four years old, during which 
time he not only worked as a hired man on the farm, but cultivated 
the land on his own responsibility, and proved himself to be a 
farmer that was second to none in his community. It is probable 
that he might have pursued farming indefinitely if he had not 
perceived that there were better financial rewards in other kinds of 
employment. 

Exchanges Plow for Paint Brush. 

In the year of 1881 the subject began his succssful career as a 
painter. He carefully studied the painter's art and strove to make 
himself master of his new trade. His diligence was in course of 
time rewarded, and he became one of the leading painters of his 
day. He engaged in the business of painting until 1895, when he 
quit the business for mercantile life. 

A Merchant in Holly Springs. 

Whenever the subject has changed his business it has been for 
the purpose of bettering his financial condition, and in each case 
the success that was gained justified the wisdom of the change. 
In the year of 1895 he began in the mercantile business in Holly 
Springs, Miss., with a capital of $300. He was utterly without 
experience, for that was his first venture in commercial life. How- 
ever, he persevered in his business and bought his business wisdom 
just as all inexperienced merchants necessarily must do. He had 
correct ideas of what he should do, and for this reason he was 
reasonably successful from the beginning. Each successive year 
has added to his original capital, until his former capital has been 
multiplied many fold. He is one of the leading colored merchants 
of the State of Mississippi, and stands high in the rating of the 
commercial world. Sound common sense and perfect business 
integrity have been the basis of bis success. His credit has never 
been put in jeopardy, for he has been content to let his business 
build up itself without risking outside means. He has shown 
remarkable aptitude for business life, and has succeeded far more 
than many men with special business training. 

An Active Business Man. 

The subject is an enterprising, energetic, public-spirited business 
man. His career as a business man has been more or less remark- 
able, for he has made better use of his business opportunities than 
most men, and can give a clearer account of the manner in which 
his moneys have been disposed. He is financially interested in 



344 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

some of tin- principal investments of the town of Holly Springs, 

Mis>. Ilr is a stockholder of the Merchants & Fanners' Bank of 

Hollv Springs, the (reek Cotton din Company of Holly Springs, 
and the North Mississippi lair Association. 

Treasurer d. A. Q. Williams Land Company. 

The subject is Treasurer of the J. A. Q. Williams Land Company 
of Memphis, Tenn., one of the greatest land companies promoted 
by the drains and capital of the race. This company owns twenty- 
one acres of investment land right in the heart of the manufacturing 
district of South Memphis. It is in close proximity to nearly forty 
manufactories, and is thus a valuable site for manufacturing pur- 
poses or for the use of tenants that may he employed in the manu- 
factories. This large tract of land has heen divided into 350 lots, 
to be sold to members of the race and on terms that suit the 
purchaser. 

Owns Much Real Estate. 

In addition to his home residence in Holly Springs, Miss., the 

subject owns five other pieces of property in the same city. He 

owns four pieces of improved property in the city of Memphis, 
Tenn.; also two pieces of property in Jackson, Miss. 

Official Honors. 

The subject is Treasurer of the North Mississippi Missionary 
Conference. He is Treasurer of the Fraternal Hall Association 
of Holly Springs. Miss. He is Chairman of the Asbury Church 
Building Committee. Hi- has heen one of the trustees of Asbury 
Chapel tor many years, and is generally regarded as a consistent 
and responsible church worker. 

A Self-Made Man. 

When the educational advantages of the subject are considered, 
not a citizen of Hollv Springs is entitled to more credit for ser- 
vices rendered and success achieved than Mr. H. W. Doxey. II 
had no educational advantages worth referring to. for he had the 
privilege of attending school for only si\ months in his whole life. 
He is a self-made man ami the architect of his own fortune. Early 
in life he was thrown upon his own resources and had to make a 
way not only for himself, but he had to assume the responsibility 
of caring for a large family of brothers and sisters, hi his struij<rles 
to rear and educate his hrothers and sisters, he was compelled to 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE $45 

neglect his own education, but his loss in opportunity has been 
Lareelv compensated by nature's stimulating his native powers and 
greatly improving his eonnnon sense and judgment. 

His Dear Wife. 

In the year of 1881 the subject was united in the holy bonds of 
wedloek to Miss Ellen Simpson, of New Albany. Miss. She is 
one of the best women that ever trod the walks of man. She is 
quiet, earnest, hard-working and devoted to the welfare of her chil- 
dren, husband and home. She is one of the pillars of her church 
and a pillar to society in general. 

Their Talented Daughter. 

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Doxey. Miss Nathalie 
Doxey, is a talented young woman, and enjoys unbounded popu- 
larity among her acquaintances and friends. She lacked just one 
year of completing the classical course in Rust University. She 
is a talented musician, and has had control of the music department 
of Rust University since 1909- Her musical education was received 
at Rust University, the College of Music. Albany. New York, and 
Oberlin Conservatory. Oberlin. O. She is a versatile young woman, 
and she is as accomplished in domestic economy as she is in the 
"divine art." of which she is such an able exponent. She is a high- 
class seamstress and skillful in all kinds of art work. 

Doxey & Walker. 

The subject is part owner of the mercantile establishment of 
Doxey & Walker. Holly Springs. Miss., and his long experience 
and splendid business judgment are invaluable to his partner in the 
management of the firm's business. 

Addenda. 

Mr. Doxey has the faculty of making and keeping his friends. 
He is kind, courteous, public-spirited and ambitious to go to the 
top. He is one of the most popular citizens of Holly Springs. Miss., 
and a person that has done his best for the community of Holly 
Springs and the institutions thereof. He has played well his part 
in the same of life, and what he has failed to do has been an error 
of the head and not of the heart. 



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BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 
//. ('. Ellison, Memphis, Tain. 

Contractor and Builder. 

HEN the famous English architect, Sir Christopher 

Wren, was asked concerning the erection of his monu- 
ment, he reminded his questioner to look around and 
behold his monument in the grand and stately buildings 
which the incomparable genius of the architect had made possible. 
In like manner and with no less degree of pride may the subject 
of this sketch look about him and behold the many substantial and 
even magnificent buildings that are a monument to his ability as a 
master builder and contractor. 

A Native of Georgia. 

Mr. H. C. Ellison, who is one of the leading building contractors 
of the South, is a native of the State of Georgia, and was born in 
Cedar Town, September 11, 1871. In many respects the subject 
is a fortunate man as to his nativity, for the State of Georgia is 
the banner State of the South in more respects than one. It may 
be stated on the best of authority that the State of Georgia pro- 
duces not only the greatest peach crop and the greatest watermelon 
crop, hut it also produces a substantial crop of able, progressive and 
wealthy representatives of the Negro race. 

Mainly a Self-Made Man. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools 
of his native State. From the standpoint of education he is mainly 
a self-made man. The only college that he ever attended was the 
college of hard work, and in that most ancient and most honorable 
institution he has received both his bachelor and master's degrees. 
He lias, however, striven to make up his intellectual deficiencies by 
self -application and correspondence instruction, and it must be 
admitted that he S( ems to be as well prepared for life as the self- 
satisfied man with collegiate training. 

Served an Apprenticeship. 

While attending school he first began to work at the carpenter's 
trade with his hrotlii -r-in-law. Mr. J. M. Wilson. His relative was 
a very capable artisan, and gave the subject much information and 
practical training in carpentry from the time the subject was 
fourteen years old until he was eighteen. At the age of eighteen 
years be began to serve a regular apprenticeship under Mr. Samuel 




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348 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Clary, of Cedar Town, Ga., and by the time that the subject had 
attained to his majority his earning power as a capable mechanic 

was as great as any young man in the State of Georgia. 

Westward to Arkansas in 18<H. 

In the year of 18<H the subject quit his home in Georgia and 

went to the State of Arkansas to follow his trade. He labored with 
the greatest success in that State for two years, when he moved 
to the city of Memphis. Term., in 18<)(). where he has since resided. 

A Leading Contractor. 

No other perfect stranger ever came to the city of Memphis 
and SO quickly established himself in public favor and confidence 
in his business as did the subject. Having become known is a 
most capable foreman with some of the leading contractors of the 
city of Memphis, it was an easy matter for him soon to branch out 
on his own responsibility as a master contractor and builder. He 
has plied his trade in the city of Memphis and surrounding country 
since the year of 1896, and it is reasonable to state that there is 
today not a contractor in the city of Memphis that stands for more 
in the way of success, reliability and capability than he. Slowly 
but surely he has built up a patronage among the best people that is 
second to none. He is a man that is perfectly responsible for any 
promise that he makes, and his word is a synonym for honest work 
and fair treatment to all. 

Can Handle Any Contract. 

Some of the most imposing structures in the city of Memphis are 
monuments to his genius as a master builder. His success has been 
so great and his financial resources have been so improved that he 
is able to handle a contract involving nearly any sum of money. 
He erected the four-story Masonic Temple Building in the city of 
Memphis and the mammoth forty thousand dollar building for 
Mississippi Industrial College, Holly Springs. Miss. The subject 
is inferior to no other man in his general knowledge of the con- 
tracting business, and he is not only a most capable artisan, but he 
is on<- of the most reliable and one of the most gentlemanly con- 
tractors in the ranks of the Negro race. 

Has Prospered in His Business. 

The subjeel has proved himself to be not only a successful 
contractor, hut a first-class Imsiness man and financier. Next to 
having ^ilt edged credit among the wealthiest people of his com- 



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BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

niunity. he is quite well off in the goods of 1 1 1 i ^ world. He has 
oik- of the most substantia] homes in the city of Memphis, and in 
addition thereto he is the owner of twelve pieces of unimproved 
property in Memphis. He sticks close to his business, and is more 
ambitious to make a name and fame in it than in anvthing else. 
He is easily one of the most prosperous of the contractors in the 
South, and is eminently deserving of his success. He lias pros- 
pered in his business because he is capable, honest and deserving, 
and that is the secret of his splendid success. 

L'p the Hill of Life Together. 

On October 7. 1897, Mr. H. ('. Ellison went hack to the State 
of Georgia and brought with him to the BlurT City of Tennessee 
his dear and devoted wife. She was a Miss Alice Hill, of Rome, 
Ga.. and was an acquaintance of his childhood days. She is a past 
mistress in the science of domestic economy, and is a worthy and 
energetic worker in everything of interest to her. Her activities 
in social and Christian life are faithful and inspiring, and she 
wields a great power for good in both capacities. 

Addenda. 

The subject is prominent in church and Sunday School work, 
having served tor several years as Superintendent of Providence 
Chapel A. M. E. Sunday School. He is in touch with the fraternity 
spirit because of his affiliation with the Masons and Odd Fellows. 
He is a clean man. and is without the least doubt one of the best 
men of the race. 





/;/•:./' ".v uuilTS OF THE RACE 351 

N. B. Houser, M.D.. Helena, Ark. 

Proprietor 15 lack Diamond Dure; Store. 

O THOSE who have even a superficial knowledge of the 
Language of the ancient Romans, the Latin expression, 
"nota bene," means "note well," and when abbreviated 

it gives rise to the well-known initials N. B. \\ hile the 
real meaning of this phrase is given, it is none the less significant 
when used in connection with the name of the worthy and honored 
subject of this sketch, Dr. N. B. Houser. for his splendid success 
and worthy achievements in life have demonstrated beyond perad- 
venture of doubt that he has "noted well" the serious aspect of that 
existence which we call life, and that he has made the most serious 
preparation to make it the best, the happiest, and the noblest exist- 
ence for mortal beings. The doctor has not slept on his oppor- 
tunities, for he has worked incessantly and wrested from life some 
of its most creditable and most enduring rewards. 

His Birthplace. 

Dr. X. B. Houser is a native of the State of North Carolina, and 
was born near Gastonia, Gaston County, February 14, 1869- He 
seems to have inherited the progressive qualities and determined 
spirit of the people of the Old North State, and to have brought 
them in their entirety to his Western home. 

His Energetic and Progressive Father. 

If there is any virtue in the power of heredity, the doctor is 
undoubtedly a very fortunate man, for his worthy father was one 
of the most enterprising and one of the most successful business 
men of the State of North Carolina, and stood second to none 
in the mastery of the trade which he followed so long and so suc- 
cessfully. For years the father was the most prominent brick 
manufacturer and brick contractor in the city of Charlotte. N. C. 
He was the owner of two brick yards, and thus had practically a 
monopoly for the manufacture of bricks in his city. As a contractor 
he erected many of the most substantial buildings in the city of 
Charlotte, and in other cities of the State. Among the many monu- 
ments to his skill as a contracting builder is the magnificent Boys 
Dormitory of Biddle University, Charlotte. N. C. The father came 
Westward with his son. and is now actively connected with tin' 
management of the famous Black Diamond Drug Company of 
Helena. Ark. He is one of the progressive, substantial citizens of 



r - 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




N. li. lUUSEK, M. I). 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Helena, and has broughl to thai hustling little municipality much 
• it his old North Carolina business zeal and aggressiveness. He 
is easily one of the most striking looking citizens of his adopted 
city, and one of the finest specimens of physical manhood that the 

gnat State of North Carolina ever permitted to depart from its 
territory. He is a man of superior natural ability, and a gentleman 
of which the race ought to be proud. 

A Graduate of the University of Hard Work. 

The subject of this sketch is not only a graduate of a reputable 

institution of learning, but he is also an alumnus of the University 
of Hard Work. During the whole period of his life lie has known 
nothing but hard and unremitting work. Work is the gospel of his 
life, and with him it is the open sesame to all that is best and 
noblest in life. From the time when he was nine years of age 
until he had attained to his fourteenth birthday, the subject of this 
sketch worked with his father on the farm. Early in life he served 
an apprenticeship in the brick making trade, and in course of time 
he became very skillful in the manipulation of the work. Although 
a school hoy. all of his spare time was utilized in the mastery of 
the brick making trade until he was sixteen years old. At this 
important period in his youthful life he became private secretary 
to his father, and used his energies and talents in the management 
of his father's vast building interests until the year of 1901. The 
contracts of his father were of such a responsible character that 
they required the careful and systematic attention of a trained 
accountant, and the splendid success of his father was due not 
only to the high class ability of the father as an artisan, but to the 
splendid mathematical skill of the son. whose calculations in esti- 
mation of contract work always took care of his father's interests 
and enabled the father to make a reasonable margin in all of the 
father's contractural obligations. For fourteen years the doctor 
personally looked after the business accounts of his father, and 
thus materially aided him in becoming the hading contractor and 
builder in his section of the State of North Carolina. 

His Literary Education. 

The State of North Carolina is foremost in the number and 
excellence of its educational institutions for tin race. It maintains 
not only a common school system that compares favorably with any 
in the South, but it also has in all probability tin greatest number 
of higher institutions of learning to be found in any of the South- 
' rl1 States. \\ hilt- t);, rice has made great progress along materia] 



354 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

lines in the State of North Carolina, its advancement along educa- 
tional lines has been most commendable, for in this particular the 
Old North State is called the "garden spot of the South.'' The 
worthy subject was blessed with splendid educational opportunities, 
and that he well used them i- demonstrated by his unusual success 
in life. His elementary education was received in the denomina- 
tional schools of his native State, especially the Presbyterian schools. 
In the rear of 1881 he began his student lite at Biddle University, 
Charlotte. N. ('.. an institution of learning under the auspices 
of the Presbyterian Church, and one of the best educational 
institutions in the land. The doctor's higher literary training was 
received in the classic walls of this great university, and he was 
well prepared therein for the exigencies of life. 

A Graduate of Leonard Medical College. 

For some unexplainahle reason, when he was a youth, the future 
medical practitioner had a feeling that he was destined to he 
doctor, notwithstanding the fact that he had never seen a colored 
doctor. This feeling became more and more intensified as he 
became older, and consequently, at the first available opportunity. 
he realized the ambition of his life by being permitted to pursue in 
a systematic way the study of medicine. In the year of 1887 he 
matriculated in the medical department of Shaw University, Leon- 
ard Medical College, one of the leading medical colleges of the 
United States. His student career at the medical college was 
highly creditable, for he worked diligently and burned the midnight 
oil in order to understand the principles of the great science to 
whose keeping the lives of the human race arc committed. While 
at college he won the first prize for superior knowledge ot' obstet- 
rics. Ih also merited an unprecedented honor in the history of the 
medical college by creditably doing the whole tour years' work of 
the course in medicine in a fraction less than three years. His 
student career was serious in its application to understand the 
principles of medicine, and when in the year of 1SJU he came 
forth from the classic walls of his alma mater, bearing the highest 
testimonials that it was in her power to confer upon him. he telt 
sure of having done his full duty in preparation for his life work. 

His Professional Career Began at Home. 

As soon as he had graduated from Leonard Medical College, the 

doctor began the practice of his profession in his home town ot 

Charlotte, V C, and for ten years he successfully served the cause 

of humanity in his native State. He succeeded in building up 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



355 




THE BLACK DIAMOND DRUG COMPANY 



3 r BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

what was generally said to hare been the "most lucrative practice 
of any colored physician in the State of North Carolina." In 
spiti of the fact that he began his professional career at home when 
ht- was barely in his majority, yet so great was the confidence of 
the people in his skill in the art of healing that he was immediately 
selected by the faculty and officers of Biddle University to rill 
the responsible position of consulting physician to the university, 
and In served in that capacity for ten years, or until he quit the 
State to reside in the State of Arkansas in 1901. So far as the 
records show, his employment in that capacity was a great honor. 
both from the standpoint of Ins youthful age and the long tenure 
of Ins sen ice. 

Horace Greeleyward in 1901. 

The law of civilization is that the effete East must send her 
philosophers and wise nun in the direction of the Occident in onh r 
to hriii or to the people of that benighted region the blessings of 
civilization and enlightenment, and in unconscious obedience to 
this inexorable law. the subject of this sketch made his first trip 
to the land of the West in the year of 1900. He had a dual object 
in visiting tin West. viz.. to see his brother and also to examine 
the possibilities of the new country as a desirable field in which to 
practice his profession. His visit to the State of Arkansas opened 
up to his keen business vision a possibility of what he had never 
hi Ion dreamed. The equable climate, fertile soil and teeming 
population of the race suggested to him without long deliberation 
that tin new country was a veritable Promised hand for him. So 
!i> forthwith decided to quit tin i ffete East and cast his lot with 
this Western land of unlimited possibilities and wealth. He Located 
in the town of Helena. Ark., in the month of June. 1901, and his 
extraordinary success in his profession amply demonstrates tin 
wisdom of liis choice. 

The Black Diamond Dun. Company. 

Not only is the doctor a high class physician, but he is also a 
wide awake, successful business man. He is e\ir seeking the main 
chance. So in tin viar of I|mii in established what is now generally 
known as tin Black Diamond Drug Company, but it was located 
on oiu ot tin back streets of Ins town. He put into his drug busi- 
ness the sum total of all his business energies, determination and 
professional experience, and his financial resources were so 

strengthened thai in the year of 1908 he was able to seek and 
occupy more convenient quarters on on< of the principal thorough- 
fans ot tin city. His business still increasing, he finally located 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 357 

his drug company in one of tin* most attractive and most substan- 
tial business blocks of the town and situated on the principal street. 

In volume of business, convenience of location, quality of pro- 
fessional service and high class modernity, there arc indeed few- 
drug stores that equal the Black Diamond Drug Company. First 
class service combined with reasonable prices is the principle on 
which this company operates, and for the proper management of 
its enormous business seven employes and one field operator are 
necessary. The capital invested in this company is about $7,500, 
and the monthly sales will approximate $2,000. This drug com- 
pany is one of the business marvels of the town of Helena, and 
has exerted a salutary influence on the business activity of the race. 

His Success as a Medical Practitioner. 

The professional success of the doctor has been phenomenal, and 
there has not been a dav since he hunt; out his shingle to the 
breezes of his native State that he did not feel deeply grateful for 
the kindly recognition that has ever been given to his professional 
services. He has ever been ambitious to deserve the patronage of 
his people, and he has succeeded to a gratifying degree. His 
skill as a practitioner was highly appreciated by the people of 
his native State, and during his professional sojourn in that State 
his practice was possibly the biggest in the State. He was highly 
honored in medical ranks, and was directly associated with some 
of the leading surgeons of the white race. He was President of 
the North Carolina Colored .Medical Association for one year, 
and was its honored Secretary for two years. He was also physi- 
cian in charge of the Samaritan Hospital of Charlotte. X. C for 
three years, and he was the only colored physician to till this 
honored office. 

An Aggressive Business Man. 

The doctor knows the principles of business lite quite as thor- 
oughly as he knows the principles of the medical profession. He 
is one of the leading business men of his town, and his place of 
business is a center whence radiate many impulses having for their 
object the development and advancement of the business life of 
the race. Occupying, as his business establishment does, one of the 
most pretentious and one of the most substantial structures in the 
city of Helena. Ark., the doctor, in a commercial sense. i> the 
cynosure of all eyes in that town, and his business success is a source 
of pride and gratification to the race in general. His business 
ideas are so progressive and his businrss success is so marked that 
in recognition of the same he was honored by bis local constituency 



358 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

with the position of President of the Helena Negro Business League 
in the year of 1 9 1 "■ 

A Vers itile Musk i \x. 

Early in life circumstances, rather than natural inclination, 
forced the doctor to become a devotee of the so-called "divine art" 
'■t' music. Through the kindly interest of friends he was encour- 
d and elevated to a position of responsibility which required i 
knowledge of music. He accepted the imposed responsibility with 
his characteristic philosophy and resolved to make himself highly 
proficient in the performance of his new duties. Just as he has 
succeeded in everything that he lias ever attempted, he resolved to 
succeed in the acquisition of musical knowledge. He took up the 
study of music seriously and in the course of time he developed 
into one of the best organists in his native State. For years he 
performed as regular organist in some of the leading churches, and 
made for himself a permanent reputaton as a faithful and capable 
musician. He is a versatile musician, and numbers several instru- 
ments on which he can exercise his talents. 

Church and Fraternal Affiliations. 

The doctor's religious views conform with those of the great 
majority of his acquaintances and associates, for he is a "wheel 
in the wheel" Baptist and believes in the orthodox principles of 
his church. He is not at all obnoxious in the advocacy of his 
religious principles, and he can sup out of the same dish with i 
rabid Westleyite or fervid Campbellite with equal equanimity. It 
is nearly superfluous to state that the doctor is a member of all 
the fraternities, for he is a man of that temperament that easily 
tdapts him to fraternize with his fellows and help them all to 
approximate a perfect state of brotherly unity and love. In con- 
nection with the doctor's initiation in the mysteries of lodgedom, 
the writer may he pardoned for sadly reflecting and contemplating 
i.pon the great calamity that has befallen tin bewhiskered goat 
family by the two hundred and twenty five pounds of avoirdupois 

of the doctor. 

Hi- Devoteo and Talented Wife. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the subject of this sketch has 
always been a successful man, there can In- no possible doubt that 
master successful achievement of his whole life was in the 
year of 1902, for on the I Nth day of January of' that year the 
doctor with stately step to the entrancing bridal strains of Men- 
delssohn, hd to the altar Miss .\nni< S. Alston, of' I .ouish.r<_ r . N. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 359 

C. His estimable wife was educated in the Presbyterian schools 
of Louisberg, and taught for several years in the graded schools 

of Charlotte. X. C. She is a talented woman, and numbers among 
her accomplishments a high degree «>!' proficiency in music, which 
she teaches. She is a wife in the highest and holiest significance of 

the term, and she is truly the tilth wind in the success of her 
husband. Her fidelity to his interests is a source of grateful appre- 
ciation to her husband, who never tins of extolling her many virtues. 
She is invaluable to her husband in his business affairs, for she not 
only looks after his professional accounts, but she keeps the books 
of the Black Diamond Drug Company. She is a cheerful, active 
assistant in the management of her husband's business affairs, and 
is never so satisfied as when she is contributing some worthy effort 
to the success and welfare of her faithful guardian and loving 
husband. She is an ideal companion, and worthy of every con- 
sideration that can be bestowed upon her. 

The Doctor's Personality. 

There is much that is potential in one's personality, for an 
agreeable personality is one of the most valuable assets in the 
character of any one. There is something wholesome and refresh- 
ing in the personality of the doctor, and there is nothing that 
smacks of selfishness or sordidness in his nature. His attractive 
personality is simply nature's best and purest endowment, without 
gross or guile. The hearty handshake, the wreathing smile and the 
generous physical proportions demonstrate the fact that nature 
was in her best humor when she produced him. He is one of the 
most popular as well as one of the most capable physicians of tin 
Southland, and there is no one to question the truthfulness of this 
statement. 

His .Material Sic cess. 

The worthy subject of this sketch is blessed with his share of 
the goods of this world. He has worked hard and sacrificed to 
put himself beyond the pale of crying want in old age. It has 
never been his wish to be dependent upon the uncertain charity of 
the world, so he has ever been mindful of the necessity of laying 
something by for the rainy days of lite. He is one of the most 
prosperous of tin younger citizens of Helena, and is considered to 
be the premier business man of his section of the State. In the 
city of Helena he has one of the most substantial, most elegant and 
most complete residences among the colored population, and in 
addition to his home he is the owner of eleven houses and lots. 
whose rental returns a handsome income on his investment. His 



360 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

property occupies practically a whole block in the rear of his resi- 
dent -. which occupies a commanding and strategic position on the 
cresi of the hill in trout. The doctor is a stockholder of the 
Phillips County Land & Investment Company, and also a stock- 
holder of tin Mound Bayou Oil Mill & Manufacturing ( ompanv. 
He carries $10,000 worth of life insurance for his family, and is 
thus well prepared tor the exigencies of life. He is a big man 
physically and mentally, and is a splendid example of the best 
type of the active, energetic and progressive American business 
man. 



N£ 



BEACON LI OUTS OF THE RACE 



361 



Rev. ./. M. Johnson. D.D.j Vicksburg, Miss. 

President Mississippi Baptist State Convention and Vice- 
President National Baptist Convention. 




T IS a great tinny to be a preacher, l>nl it is still better 
to have the distinction of being a great preacher. The 
true minister of the gospel is the direct and positive 
medium of communication between God and man. and 
serves the holiest purpose that it is possible for a human being to 
serve. The man that carries about in his heart the credentials of 
his ambassadorship from the Almighty is the greatest official 




Rev. a. M. Johnson, 1).i>. 



dignitary in the world, and can command the respect, confidence and 
adoration of mankind to an unusual degree. There is presented 
to the readers of this book the life story of a true, consecral 
minister of the gospel, a minister whose record among the Baptists 

of the State of Mississippi has shone with stellar brightness during 



BEACON I.K.JI I - OF THE RAl E 

his whole ministerial life of ovej a quarter of a century. He 
represents the highest type of the consecrated Christian minister, 

and he is a man that is worthy of the unbounded popularity that 
lie enjoys. 

A Product of Mississippi Soil. 

Dr. A. M. Johnson, tin- renowned leader of the Baptist denom- 
ination of the State of Mississippi, is a product of the soil and 
climate of that State, and was horn in Yazoo City. March •_>(>. 1864. 
Hi- dear mother, Mrs. Martha Johnson, is still living, moving and 
having her being in the city of Yicksburg. 

His Literary Training. 

The subject completed the course of instruction in the Yazoo 
City school when he was a youth. Subsequently he went to Nash- 
ville. Tennessee, where he matriculated as a student of Walden 
University. Having been admitted to the student body of that 
cherished institution of the race, lie remained a student in the 
hallowed walls of that school until he was compelled to quit because 
of the death of his father. Hut his feet had been put in the path 
■.ml trained in wisdom's way. and it was not difficult to add to his 
intellectual stores by diligent self-application. 

Converted Early ix Life. 

The subject of this sketch early in life professed belief in Christ 
and gave himself to the service of the Master, lor over a quarter 
of a century he has been preaching the gospel of salvation and has 

accomplished untold good for the cause of Christianity. 

A Leading Pastor for Many Years. 

Tin subject has served some of the best pastorates in the State 
of Mississippi, and his tenure of office lias been exceptionally long. 
Hi- has the faculty of giving satisfaction in every department of 
^<r\ice. and that fact has been at the foundation of his success 
Hi served the [ssaquena Missionary Baptist Church for seven years, 
the hirst Baptist Church at Port Gibson for nine years, the Galilei 
Baptist Church of Yazoo City for several years, and he has been 
serving the Jackson Street Baptist Church of Vicksburg for over 

ten year-. 

The Jackson Street Baptist Church. 

His present pastorate is the Jackson Street Baptist Church of 
Vicksburg, Miss., which he has served for over ten years. It is 
probably the largest church in the Hill City, and has a membership 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 363 

of about four hundred communicants. The church edifice is i 
mammoth two-story building, that was erect< d at a total cost of 
$22,000. The worthy subject is the first pastor that his present 
congregation ever had, and the membership numbered only' twenty- 
two when lie assumed the pastorate. He has had wonderful success 
both financially and spiritually with his congregation, and it is 
probable that he has one of the most loyal and one of the most 
devoted congregations in his State. His membership includes many 
of the best and most intelligent people of the city of Vioksburg, 
and they have shown in every possible way their fidelity to the 
principles of the denomination and their love for the gifted preacher 
and consecrated Christian gentleman who has for such a long time 
been their spiritual leader and comforter. 

President Mississippi Baptist State Convention. 

The subject is the most highly honored preacher in the ranks 
of the Baptist denomination of his State, for he has held the highest 
office in the State Convention of that State for several years. He 
is President of the Baptist State Convention of Mississippi, and 
has proved himself to be a worthy successor to the illustrious and 
consecrated gospel fathers who have preceded him. He is the active, 
vigorous and militant head of the whole denomination in his State, 
and wields an influence that is as great as it is salutary and wise. 
He was Educational Secretary of the Baptist State Convention for 
six years, and since the year of 1904, or about that time, he has 
served as President. That his administration as President has 
been highly satisfactory is demonstrated by the fact that he has 
been unanimously re-elected each time when his term of office has 
expired. 

Vice-President National Baptist Convention. 

Not only is the subject potential in the affairs of the Baptist 
denomination in his own State, but he is officially connected with 
the Xational Baptist Convention, being one of the Vice-Presidents 
of that august body. Being at the head of one of the largest Bap- 
tist constituencies in the United States, it is to he expected that 
the eminent spiritual father would be no mean factor in the councils 
of the Xational Baptist Convention. 

A Business Man, Too. 

The subject is not only a great preacher, but !.< is a first-class 
business man. He is not a religious zealot far removed from busi- 
ness life, but he is ,-i player in the center of the stage in each of 



364 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

these great fields of human activity and beneficence. He is not 
only a capable financier in the church, hut he is a strong man 
in business life. He is First Vice-Presidenl of the Union Savings 
Bank of Vicksburg, Miss., and his sagacious counsel has had much 

to iId with the progress and success of that splendid institution of 
tin race. 

H \s Goons of Tin- Would. 

The worthy subject has not slept on his opportunities tor material 
gain in this life. On the contrary, he has taken time by the fore- 
lock to prepare for the happiness and security ot' his loved ones. 
He has property of considerable value in the city of Vicksburg, 
and is considered one of the substantial citizens of that progressive 
city. 

His Faithful Wife. 

Early in life it was the good fortune of the subject to win the 
heart and hand of Miss Clara Fridge of Yazoo City, Miss. She 
has proved to be not only a noble wife, hut a splendid counsellor 
in his business and spiritual affairs. She has ever been a source 
of inspiration and strength to him, and he could not have succeeded 
so well in his ministerial life without her assistance. 

A Strong Max in Mississippi. 

Dr. Johnson is one of the strongest and one of the most influen- 
tial men in the whole State of Mississippi. He is a clean, able and 
progressive leader, and enjoys a popularity that is not hedged in 
by St.ate lines. He is not only the leader of the Baptists of the 
State of Mississippi, hut he is the leader of all that stands for race 
worth, progress and prosperity. 






BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



3o5 



M. I., (la//, Memphis, Trim. 

Vice-President Solvent Savings Hank. 

BERDEEN is ,-i city in Scotland: it is also a progressi\e 
little town in the State of Mississippi. This story is not 
written concerning any person of Scotch extraction or 
lineage, but about an humble American citizen of a 

different race, who in spite of many disadvantages, has climbed 

far toward the top of the ladder of success. 




Only Mississippi Produces Them Like Him. 

Mr. M. L. Clay, the progressive business man whose life story is 
narrated in this sketch, is a native of the State of Mississippi, and 
was born near Aberdeen in the year of 1866. He was born on a 
farm, and learned early in life the value of industry and enter- 
prise. 

His Fight With the Alphabet. 

The school career of the subject began in the district schools in 
and around the proud and historic town of Aberdeen, Miss. The 
facilities for instruction were of the most primitive character, and 
the sum total of the training that he received in them was a 
working knowledge of the "Three H's." There was one study, 
however, with which he became quite familiar, hickoryology. and 
that study had much to do with the progress that the subject did 
make in his other studies. 



Those Glorious Boyhood Days. 

In those early days the subject was young, big. strong and 
healthy, and had an appetite like the tabled ostrich, which was said 
to have been able to digest iron. He worked hard on the farm and 
ate; he played hard and ate; he walked and rode many miles to 
school and ate. Thus each act of his youthful life was embellished 
and rounded off with the climax of citing. Those were glorious 
days in his boyhood, and will ever be pleasing to his memory. The 
final result of his active, hearty and vigorous country life was the 
extraordinary physical development of tin subject. He grew up 
and he grew down, and he grew all around, until he resembled :i 
human football. His face expanded and rounded until it became 
a dead ringer for the full, round moon, and his perfect digestion 
made him kindly of heart and jovial in spirit to such an extent 
that he w.as the center of cheerfulness to thosr with whom he came 
in contact. 



366 



BEACOX LIGHT* OF THE RACE 



Moved to Memphis. 

In the latter part of his teens tin- subject was brought to the 
city of Memphis by his dear mother, who had decided to locate in 




M. L. i I. \ \ 

Memphis in order to provide better facilities for the education 

of her son. As soon as the subject came to the city of Memphis 

he became a student of LeMoyne Institute Having attended that 

school for a while, he matriculated at Fisk University, Nashville. 



BEACON 1.1 < HITS OF THE BA( E $67 

Tenn., where he ended his acquistion of knowledge in the school 
room. 

Responded to Call to Teach. 

Having added much to his original stock of mental goodsj he felt 
or imagined that he felt the call to teach the youth of the race the 
nobler things of life. So. in response to this Macedonian call for 
help, he went to the delta section of his native State and bit one 
single chew off the plug of experience in teaching. This one 
pedagogical experience sufficed for all time to dampen his ardor 
in the glorious life of teaching the young idea how to shoot. The 
hearty and wide-open reception that was accorded the subj< 
by the nocturnal and diurnal insects of that region caused him to 
Lid farewell to that inhospitable clime, return to the city of Mem- 
phis and embark in a business that was more congenial to his taste.. 

A Merchant in Memphis. 

From his boyhood days the life dream of the subject has been 
to make money and plenty of it. His youthful dreams were d - 
turbed by the clink and jingle of the almighty dollar, and in his 
slumbers he tossed about in feverish pursuit of the millions that 
seemed to be in his reach. True to his youthful ambition he entered 
mercantile life as the surest and quickest way of realizing tie- 
millions that were on his brain. Having first begun business on a 
modest scale, his business acumen and hustling enterprise can 
his business to expand quickly and finally to become the leading 
colored business establishment in Memphis. 

A Remarkable Business Man. 

As a business man the subject believes in operating nil a big 
scale and in the most up-to-date style. His business operations 
have often been on a scale thai seemed too colossal for a cit\ 
the size of Memphis. In business aggressiveness and up-to-dal 
ness he is just about a century in advance of the average run 
business men of the race. He believes in giving employment I 
the worthy young men and young women of the race, and there i- 
not another business man in the city of Memphis that has shown a 
more generous spirit in this direction. He his , genius tor busi 
ness and a mind that is not daunted by failure. Hi- mind i- 
capable of sustained and continuous effort, and it is s,, compre 
hensive in its grasp that it can carry on a hundred different details 
without slipping a mental COg. He has a bi u r mind, and it' he had 
the means he would be (dashing financial arms with the pi 



368 DEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

in Wall street, New York, instead of partly sleeping in the .inns 
of Morpheus in the city of Memphis. 

His Business Activities. 

The subject is one of the busiest men in Memphis. He is the 
Leading feed and grain merchant of the race in the city of Mem- 
phis, and does a business that is as creditable as it is surprising. 
His purchases of grain, feed and flour arc usually in carload lots. 
and for this reason his margins can he made as close as anv other 
merchant in the same business in Memphis. He is Third Vice- 
President of the Solvent Savings Hank & Trust Company of Mem- 
phis, and from the very organization of the bank he has been one 
of its most reliable and one of its most substantial promoters. His 
ideas of aggressive business methods have been felt in the manage- 
ment of the bank, and the success of the bank has been in large 
measure due to him. He is the owner and proprietor of the finest 
tonsorial parlor for colored people in the State of Tennessee. Its 
fixtures are of costly character, and of the most modern style. 
Each tonsorial artist has an individual washstand for the use of his 
patrons. The chairs are white enamel and the lest from the stand- 
point of durability and beauty. In connection with the shop the re 
is a bath room, in which nearly every variety of hath may he taken 
by its patrons. There is also a large pool room, which affords ■ 
pleasurable amusement for its habitues, as well as a good financial 
return for the proprietor. 

His Estimable Wife. 

In the year of 1898 tht subject succeeded in winning the heart 
and hand of Miss I .ill it O'Donnell of Memphis. Tenn. She is a 

woman of handsome appearance and the center of a large circle 
of admiring friends. After several years of connubial life it 

pleased tin stork to visit her handsome home and leave a card 
hearing on it this most significant and most welcome inscription: 

"Miltonette (lay. 
( >etoher I::, ipio." 

A Man \s True \s Steel. 

Personally, the subject of tins sketch is one of the most popular 
;, " ,! "■'« of th. most lovable men of the race in the city of Memphis. 
"' ls '""' "' the most enterprising men in his community, and 
h« is ,,s liberal in his charities as he is enterprising. He is a first- 
Aass business man and a tirst class man personally. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



.W 




MRS. M. L. CLAY AM) MILTON KTTE 



370 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA E 

.7. E. Walker, LL.B., Gunnison, Miss. 



Attorney at Law 




HERE is an old saying thai "blood will tell," and judg- 
ing by the many conclusive evidences in support of this 

contention, there must be more or less truth in it. In 
many quarters it has been bruited about that the State 
of Alabama has presented to the South many of its best and most 
eminent citizens of the Negro race. It matters not in what direction 
one may go, he will find some hustling, energetic, ambitious and 
successful man hailing from the State of Alabama as the place of 
his nativity. Whether in the learned profession- or in business or 
industrial life, the star of Alabama is ever shining brightly above 
the horizon, proclaiming to the world the superiority of her native 
sons, and sending them to the four corners of the earth to help in 
the intellectual and moral development of the races of men. 

A Native Son of Alabama. 

Lawyer J. E. Walker, the talented .and worthy subject of this 
sketch, first saw the light of day in the picturesque and progressive 
State of Alabama. He was born in Dallas County. May 1-th. Is 
and whatever of success he has achieved in the useful walks of life 
must be put on the credit side of the ledger of bis beautiful native 
State. He is a worthy contribution to the State of his adoption 
from a progressive sister State, and thus tits admirably in the 
scheme of beneficence for which his native State is noted, and to 
which reference is made in the introductory paragraph. 

Ihs Early Wrestle With the Three R's. 

The subject first wrestled with tin "Three R's" in the primitive 

schools of' Dallas County. Alabama. His attendance was tor only 1 
few months at a time. In the year of 1878 his parents quit the 
State of Alabama and located in the Stat, of Mississippi, mar 
Shannon. Lee County, where he attended school tor two or three 
tirnis under the instruction of Professors .1. H. Reid and Aaron 
Shannon. In the ve.ar of ISS] his knowledge of books and his 

ambition had increased to such an extent that he decided to quit 
the rural schools of his home county and attend one of the higher 
institutions of learning in his State. In doing so he had only his 
own determined efforts on which to rely. In the year of 1881 he 
attended Rust University, 1 1 < > II \ Springs, Miss., where he remained 

lor one year, but in l- ss -' he matriculated at the old State Normal 



/;/■;.-/< f>.Y LUiUTS OF THE race 



371 




I. I . U AI.KKK, L. L. B 



372 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

School, and it was in the classic walls of that school that he received 
his greatest inspiration to be somebody and to achieve something 
worthv in life. The subject worked his way through this famous 
institution of learning and graduated with the highest honors of 
his class in the year of 1886. 

A Leading Teacher for Years. 

The subject for several years enjoyed the distinction of being 
i lie of the leading teachers in tin schools of his adopted State. 
He taught the Hernando Graded School from 1887 to ISSf). and 
did effective work in other parts of the State. So highly were 
his professional services appreciated by the educational powers in 
his State that he was one of the hading institute conductors for 
the colored teachers. 

In the Railway Postal Service. 

While teaching in the public schools of Mississippi, he took the 
examination for a position in the Railway Postal Service, and made 
such a creditable examination that he was appointed in the ser- 
\ ice within sixty days from the date of his examination. He was 
in the service tor eighteen months, and then resigned because of 
his distaste for the work. 

Delving ix the Mystehies of Blackstone. 

After serving for many years in the traclu rs' profession, the 
subject was hired by the fates to the disciplinary but delightful 
study of Blackstone. and with that object in view he matriculated 
in the law department of Walden University in the year of 1895. 
it was his good fortune to receive in that splendid institution a 
thorough theoretical and practical training for the noble profession 
that was to he his lite work. Having diligently pursued the course 
of instruction, he was honored with graduation with the degree of 
Bachelor of Laws in 1897. 

Passed a Highly Creditable Examination. 

Having received his degree from the law department of Walden 
University, tin subject returned to the State of Mississippi to 
locate and practice his profession. In the autumn of 1897 he 

triumphantly passed tin law examination that was prescribed by 

•lie i \ a ii lining board of the St at i . 1 1 is ( \ami nation was duly passed 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 373 

upon by the Supreme Court of Mississippi, and he was adjudged 
qualified to practice the legal profession in all of the courts of the 
State. His record in the examination was so creditable that he 
merited the personal compliment of Chief Justice Whitfield. 

A Lucrative Practice. 

The subject is one of the legal luminaries of the State of Missis- 
sippi, and enjoys one of the most lucrative practices in the State. 
He has built up by the sheer force of his intellect one of the largest 
practices in the State. His annual income from his law practice 
is from $4,000 to $6,000. He has handled successfully some of 
the largest cases in the delta, and his emoluments have been com- 
mensurate with the magnitude of his cases. One of his largest 
cases was a will case, involving a bequest of $'20,000. This case 
was won by the eminent subject of this sketch, who received as his 
fee the sum of $8,000. He is said to have the largest chancery 
practice of any lawyer in Boliver County, Miss. 

Attorney for Many Interests. 

It is perfectly reasonable that the valuable services of the sub- 
ject would be in great demand in a legal way. for he is unquestion- 
ably one of the most intellectual men in the ranks of the race. He 
is the legal adviser for the Independent Order of Eagles of Amer- 
ica. Also, he is attorney for the Loyal Sons and Daughters of 
Charity of the World. He was the founder of the Colored Wood- 
men, which is now one of the leading fraternal organizations of the 
State. He was likewise the founder of the Pioneer Mutual Aid 
Society, and still serves with that organization .as Grand Master 
of the State of Mississippi. 

Has Valuable Property. 

The subject of this sketch has flourished materially from the 
practice of his profession in the delta, and he is now one of the 
largest property owners in his section of the State. He is the 
owner of fiften houses and lots in the town of Gunnison. Miss. He 
is also the owner of several lots in I.angston City, Oklahoma, and 
eighteen lots in Taft. Okla. He has realty in his old home town 
of Hernando, Miss. The total income from his rents alone is about 
$250 per month. He is interested in many business enterprises 
of the race, and is considered one of the premier business men of 
the delta. 



374 I ON LI '.UTS OF THE RACE 

Twice Blessed in Matrimony. 

Twice in tin lit.- of the subject lias he made a happy voyage on 
the sea of matrimony. His first wife was Miss Nannie Townsend, 
th" accomplished daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Townsend, of Her- 
nando. Miss. This happy union was of short duration, and was 
terminated by the death of the dear on. . who left behind a loving 
daughter to mourn her untimely end. This daughter. Miss Irma 
Walker, is now a student at Walden University. Nashville, Tenn. 
In the month of October, 1894, the subject was united in the holy 
bonds of wedlock to Miss Corinne White, the talented daughter of 
Mr. ami Mrs. Willis White, of Hernando. Miss. She is one of the 
hading teachers of DeSoto .and Boliver counties. She is an accom- 
plished musician, and is endowed with many of the natural and 
acquired gifts which make her indispensable to the success of her 
devoted husband. She is a practical woman, and materially assists 
her husband in his legal and business affairs. Both husband and 
wife make a team that is nearly invincible in the race of life, and 
the dear husband freely concedes his dependence upon his wife for 
most of tin success that he has achieved. 

Their Children. 

By the last matrimonial union the subject has four children, 
Joseph E. Walker, Jr.. Charles Sumner Walker. Frederic Walker 
and Marshall Walker. The first two boys now attend Rust Uni- 
versity, Holly Springs. Miss., and bid fair to ascend quite a dis- 
tance up the hill of learning. 

His Personalty. 

Lawyer J. E. Walker is a worthy man. and he has made his way 
from the bottom to the topmost round of the ladder of success. 
He always had an ambition to do something that would count 
heavily in the game of life. When he taught school he aspired 
to be one of the leaders in that profession; when he was in the 
railway postal s, rvice for eighteen months he strove to master every 
detad ot that husiness. and since he entered upon the practice of 
the legal profession he has had the ambition to rise to the leader- 
ship ot tin har of his State. From a poor, struggling boy on the 
I arm he has ris< n to he one ot' the greatest barristers and one of 
th. most prosperous men of the race in the Southland. He has 
hurned the midnighl oil of diligence to prepare for a useful and 
9erviceabl( lite, and the reward lor his labors has been commen- 
surate with tin saentieis and i (forts he has made to succeed. He 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 375 

is at heart one of the best men that ever wore shoe leather, and he 
is in every respect a worthy Leader of the race. He is an able 
lawyer, an energetic citizen, an enterprising business man. and a 
first-class man on general principles. He is of commanding 
physique, and his increasing physical proportions are in harmony 
with his mental growth. Few have grown so rapidly in the material 
walks of life, and none are worthier of the success gained than he. 
That the subject is all ri^ht is the unanimous opinion of the people 
of his section of the delta. 



N£ 




376 HEACOy LH;lli< OF THE RACE 

Prof. R. />'. Hudson, A.M.. Selma, Ala. 

Principal Selma City Schools and Secretary National 

Baptist Contention. 

ERSATILITY of talents is one of the most precious 
Legacies that can be bequeathed to mankind; and it read- 
ilv admits its fortunate possessor to the charmed circle 
of the world's intellectual greatness. It is the fiat oi 
an all-wise Providence that the natural endowments of man shall 
be as diverse as nature herself: that one man shall have one talent 
and another man more than one talent. A story is herein told con- 
cerning a representative of the Negro race, who is extraordinary 
in the number and variety of liis talents and who has gained in the 
domain of success a reward that is commensurate with his talents. 
Mother Nature was prodigal with her gifts to the subject, and 
created him one of the most symmetrical, most versatile and most 
accomplished geniuses of the race. 

His Nativity. 

Prof. R. B. Hudson, the eminent educator and business man 
whose life story is one of the .attractions of this hook, is a native 
of the State in which he has risen to success and fame, and was 
horn in Uniontown. I'erry County, in the year of 1866. He is a 
native son. whose remarkable life and worthy accomplishments 
have already shed luster, not only on his own name, hut on the 
name of the Negro race. 

His Parents. 

'flu subject was the gifted son of Richard and Millie Hudson. 
His parents were not highly educated in the ways of hooks, hut 
they had an intelligent conception of the meaning of life and its 
serious responsibilities, as well as its glorious opportunities. They 
belonged to the old school of domestic virtues, and they lived the 
lives of honest, industrious and law-abiding people. They were in 
fairly good circumstances as to the goods of this world, tor they 
owned a home in town and a farm in the country, and were thus 
doubly blessed lor a resting place when they should become either 

weary or worn. The father, in spite of his lack of education, was 

one ot the leading citizens <>! his communitv, and wis often hon- 
ored with election as councilman of his town, foreman ot' the jury, 

and other positions showing the esteem in which lie was held 1>\ 
his tellow citizens. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



177 




PR()F. R. B. HUDSl >N, \. M. 



37$ BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

His Education. 

In addition to the great love that the parents had for their son 
Richard, they also had an abiding faith in the importance and 

value of education, notwithstanding the fact that the parents them- 
selves had not enjoyed any of the blessings of education. Early 
they resolved to realize in their son. it' possible, the sum total of 
knowledge of which they had been deprived by the institution of 
slavery. They sent him to school at an early age. and at the begin- 
ning of his experience in school he began to give evidence of those 
higher powers of mind for which he subsequently became famous. 
1 1 is youthful precocity enabled him at once to take the leading 
rank among the pupils of the elementary school which he attended, 
and in his first year in school he succeeded in overtaking in his 
studies the son of the postmaster, who had spent two years in the 
same school before the subject had begun. He attended the public 
school in Uniontown, Ala., and subsequently began his meteoric 
and brilliant career at Selma University. Selma. Ala., whose normal 
course he completed at the early age of fifteen years. 

A Graduate of Selma University. 

As soon as the subject had received his diploma of graduation 
from the normal department of Selma University, he at once began 
his student career in the college department with the avowed inten- 
tion of completing the classical course. He had anticipated his 
action during the last two years of his normal course by taking 
the studies of the college preparatory department in connection 
with his normal work. While a student in the college department 
the high character and intellectual worth of the subject commended 
him to the executive heads and faculty of the university to that 
extent that they appointed him student teacher in the university, a 
position he filled with signal ability. His employment as student 
teacher, in connection with the pursuit of his trade as printer, 
materially assisted him in the payment of his expenses while a 
student in college. In tin fullness of time the subject received 
the coveted honor which he had struggled to gain, the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts. 

Post-Graduate Work. 

The subject not only graduated from the classical course of 
Selma University, but tor several summers he took post-graduate 

work at Chautauqua, New York. The subject was ambitious to 
fortify himself with the most thorough preparation and the broadest 
mental culture. His experience with the towering intellects in the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 379 

Chautauquan assemblies of the North gave the subject an insight 

to learning's way which has been an inspiration to hiins.lt' and 
through his instrumentality a blessing to the youth of the race. 

A Leading Educator. 

There was method in the careful preparation of the subject for his 
life work, and if he has gained unusual success in the profession of 
teaching it was because he put into his preparation all of the basic 
elements that can command success. The ability that was shown 
by the subject when he was a student teacher at Selma University 
so commended him to the officers of the university that he was 
tendered the. chair of mathematics, a position which he filled with 
his characteristic ability. Over twenty years ago he began his 
career as principal of the city colored schools of Selma. Ala., and 
his phenomenal success has long since demonstrated the fact that 
he is not only one of the brightest stars in the educational firma- 
ment of his State, but one of the brightest in the nation. For a 
generation he has been at the head of the leading public schools in 
the State of Alabama, and in that capacity he has been the source 
of inspiration that has penetrated the remotest nooks and corners 
of his State. Under him a high degree of efficiency has been 
maintained among the teaching corps, and the general scholarship 
of the school is on a parity with the best systems in the South. 

A Versatile Genius. 

(a) 
Cashier Penny Savings Bank. 

Not only is the subject the leading educator of the State of 
Alabama, but he is one of the premier business men of that State. 
He is a financier of the first rank among the successful business 
men of his State, and a power to be reckoned with in the mat. rial 
life of his State. He lias a genius to an abnormal degree for 
money-making and legitmate speculation, and it is the complimen- 
tary declaration of some of the distinguished professor's friends 
that he would flourish financially in tin dry. hot and parching sands 
of the desert of Sahara. Without question the Subject has long 
demonstrated the fact that he is one of the ablest financiers of his 
State, for when the business interests of his community saw the 
wisdom of organizing a bank, it was the unanimous voice of the 
promoters of the contemplated bank to elect him to the responsible 
position of cashier. As cashier of this institution his ability as i 
financier has a wider scope for its operations and it is an easy 
proposition to ascribe to the financial genius of its able cashier 



380 HE ACQS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

a great degree of the hank's financial success and prosperity. He 
represents a type of success that can not be gainsaid or discounted 
bv the most fanatical unbeliever in the integrity of the leaders of 
the raei . and he was the man. above all others, that was to be put 
at the head of the Penny Savings Bank in order to give it influ- 
ence, prestige and power among all classes of the race. 

(b) 

Proprietor of a Mammoth Com. Yard. 

For sixteen years the subject of this sketch has been the pro- 
prietor of one of the largest coal and wood yards in the State of 
Alabama. His coal yard covers one-half of a hlock and the land, 
which is owned by Prof. Hudson, is of considerable value. His yard 

• * 

is abutting the railroad, from which a side track extends into the 
yard. His mammoth business is the result of his perseverance and 
the practice of first-class business principles. When the subject 
(irst began in the coal business his efforts were on the most humble 
scale. His first deliveries were made in the humble and unpre- 
tentious wheelbarrow, and his first purchases of coal were on the 
same humble scale. His business has been developed along business 
lines, until it is one of the largest of its kind in the State. His 
COal is ordered in carload lots, and his patrons are not restricted to 
his own race. When the matter of excellence and value received 
for the money comes in. the so-called color line is not always in 
evidence. The high class of the coal he sells and the polite service 
and business methods of this prince of commercial life enable him 
to receive the patronage of many of the best white and colored 
people of Selma. He does not seek the patronage of his people 
simply because he is a colored man. but because he believes that 
he can give them just as good coal for the money and just as 
prompt and business like sen ice as anybody else. Acting on this 
basic principle, he has slowly yet surely risen to the top in his 
business, and can compete with almost any other company in the 
State. 

(c) 

A Leader in Business League Circles. 

'" the domain of business development he has played a con- 
spicuous part. He was on,- of the original promoters of the now 

famous National Negro Business League. He has ever been one 
of the bright stars in the business firmament of his State, and is 
"" u President of the Selma S T egro Business League. His name 
in busneSS circles throughout the Stat, of Alabama has a signifi- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 381 

cance and weight second to no other man in the State, and he is a 
lodestone that draws all the other lights in his direction. 

(d) 
An Active Schoolmaster. 

The subject has for years taken a leading rank in the educa- 
tional world, and is probably the best known schoolmaster in the 
State of Alabama. He has been in the thickest of the crusade for 
educational development and progress in his State, and it has been 
his pleasure to note vast improvement in the educational spirit in 
his city and State since the early days of his professional career. 
He is not an educational recluse or hermit, living on the memories 
of the dead past, but he is an active, forceful and energetic leader 
in everything that has for its object tin- educational advancement 
and uplift of his people. At one time he served as Secretary of 
the Alabama State Teachers' Association, and subsequently he was 
elected to the presidency of that same organization. 

(e) 

A Most Distinguished Layman. 

Prof. R. B. Hudson has the unusual honor of filling the exalted 
office of Recording Secretary of the National Baptist Convention, 
and lie has served in that capacity for five years. So creditablv 
and so ably has he performed his duties that he has been re-elected 
each year by the unanimous voice of the convention. He is the 
only layman that is honored with a national office in connection 
with the National Baptist Convention. He is Secretary of the 
Alabama State Baptist Convention, and has served in that capacity 
for sixteen years. He has served as Statistician of Sunday Schools 
of the Alabama Baptist State Convention for eighteen years. He 
has served as President of the Sunday School District Convention 
for sixteen rears, and Superintendent of the Sunday School for 
twenty-one years. His thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, his 
expert knowledge of Baptist principles and polity, and his well- 
known piety, make him an humble authority in the ranks of his 
denomination and render his knowledge and opinion worthy to be 
consulted by people from all over the State. 

(0 

Delegate to the World's MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 

One of the crowning honors that tin distinguished subject 
received from the Baptist denomination was his election as delegate 
from the National Baptist Convention to the World's Missionary 



382 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Conference, which convened in Edinburgh, Scotland, in ]<)1<>. He 
is the only layman to whom such an honor has been accorded. 
Having served the interest of the National Baptist Convention to 
the best of his ability in the meeting of the World's Missionary 
Conference, the subject took advantage of the opportunity to travel 
and visit extensively both in Insular and in Continental Europe. In 
[nsular Europe he visited England, Scotland and Ireland: then 
he crossed the Channel and made an extensive itinerary through 
France, Switzerland. Germany, Belgium. Netherlands and Italy. It 
was his extraordinary fortune to witness the Passion Play at 
Oberammerean. 



'&■ 



Enjoys Universal Respect and Esteem. 

No other man in the State of Alabama is more worthy of respect 
and esteem than the subject of this sketch. He is one of the most 
popular members of the race in the State of Alabama, and he num- 
bers his staunchest friends and supporters among the very best 
element of the dominant race. He is an enterprising, aggressive 
source of beneficence to the people of his community, and all of 
them, irrespective of race, rejoice to accord him honor. Both in the 
domain of church and state he is the embodiment of progress and 
inspiration to his people, and it is the general belief that the sub- 
ject has contributed as much as any other man to the welfare, pros- 
perity and glory of his race in the State of Alabama. 

A High Tribute From Dr. B. T. Washington. 

The subject enjoys the personal admiration and friendship of 
Dr. Booker T. Washington, the Sage of Tuskegee, and the following 
excerpt complimentary to the subject will give a faint idea of the 
esteem in which the subject is held by the most famous and the 
most noted Negro educator in the world. In a communication that 
wis published in the Colored Alabamian. the noted exponent o( 
industrial education thus writes: 

"I want to thank you most earnestly and heartily for your pub- 
lishing the picture and a sketch of the life of Prut'. R. B. Hudson. 
of Selma, Ala. I am afraid that the people of Alabama do not 
appreciate the real worth and ability of Prof. Hudson in the way 
they should. I have not only known him for a number of year-. 
<\er since I have been in the State, but it has been my privilege to 
come into contact with him on several occasions outside of the 

State, in tin South and in the North, when he has been in attend- 
ance at Large national gatherings, and on each occasion I have 
been surprised as well as pleased with the ability, clear-headedness 



BEACON LIGHTS OF Till: RACE 



383 



and genuine strength which Prof. Hudson has always exhibited 
during these gatherings. lie has shown himself on each occasion 
to be a leader of rare ability, and especially a char headed, sys- 
tematic 1 thinker and worker. Whenever I have seen him in larg 
gatherings, or in his daily work. I have always felt proud that it 
was my privilege to know him Cor a numher of years ami count 




RESIDENCE OF PROF. R. B. HUDSON 

him as my friend; hut the main purpose of this letter is to impn SS 
upon the people of our State the fact that we have a man in our 
midst, a man of such rare ability, and I repeat that you are to be 
congratulated for presenting him before the public through tin- 
medium of your paper." 

The above quoted communication speaks for itself and shows th< 
real worth of the subject .and how his worth is really appreciated 
by the most able and most excellent man that is considered the 
most noted educator of the Negro race in the whole wide world. 
It would be a great honor on the part of .any man to he able t i 
deserve such a high compliment from such an exalted source. 

The Xobi.e Partnkh of His Joys \m> Sorrows. 

Life has smiled some of its sweetesl smiles on the distinguished 
educator and layman, for it provided for him for his inspiration and 



384 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

comfort one of the truest and one of the most devoted friends that 
ever lived in the person of his estimable and accomplished wife. 
She Mas a Miss Irene M. Thompson, and had the honor of receiving 
her diploma of graduation from Tuskegee Normal Institute. She 
was a teacher in the schools of Birmingham. Ala., and at the Den- 
mark Industrial School at Denmark. South Carolina. Two chil- 
dren bless their union, the elder a member of the sophomore class 
of Atlanta Baptist College, and the other a pupil of the Selma 
Public School. Prof. Hudson's success must be shared with his 
loyal and devoted wife, and there is no one that will cheerfully 
concede the invaluable assistance of his wife to the same extent 
that the subject will. 

A Wealthy and Honorable Man. 

The worthy subject of this sketch is receiving some of his reward 
for his active, energetic and useful life while he is residing on 
these mundane shores. The Lord has not deferred his blessing 
until his admittance to the better world, but He is blessing him 
in this terrestrial existence. Prof. Hudson is one of the wealthiest 
men in the State of Alabama. He is the owner of one of the most 
substantial residences in the State of Alabama, and in addition 
thereto he is the owner of several pieces of valuable improved 
property. One of his buildings is a three-story brick building, 
which is conservatively estimated to be worth $15,000. His valuable 
one-half block on which his coal and wood yard is located has 
already been referred to. He is such a deserving and energetic 
•nan that many conditions and things have conspired to make him 
as rich in this world comparatively as he will be in the glorious 
one above. 

An Estimate. 

Prof. Hudson is one of the most useful and one of the most 
serviceable men in the ranks of the race, whatever the section of 
the country may be. He is essentially a man of larjre and varied 
affairs, and can manage them all with even a greater degree o\' 
success than some men can manage just one affair. He has a 
mind that was created to conquer and command leadership. By 
the sheer force of his intellectual and moral powers he early 
became a dominating, potential force in the affairs of his State, and 
time has only intensified tin hold that he has on the best wishes 
nd affection of his people. Prof. Hudson is a strong man from 
whatever standpoint he may be observed, and he is the man above 
all others in his State that stands highest in educational, business, 

financial and Christian affairs. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 385 

B. F. Booth, Memphis, Tenn. 

Attorney and Counsellor. 

F ALL the professions that require the highest powers 
of the intellectual and moral nature, the profession of 
law stands pre-eminent. It is one of the most ancient 
of the so-called learned professions, and has been devel- 
oped and elaborated from the earliest ages of mankind down to 
the present time. There never was a time from the fall of man 
in the Garden of Eden until the present time that human rights 
did not need to be safeguarded. The law is the impartial tribune 
of the universe, and its exponents are the best promoters of the 
peace, happiness and glory of the human race. Success in the 
practice of the law requires innate talents of the highest order, 
and if a man is not endowed with certain natural attributes, all 
of the law schools in the universe can not guarantee him professional 
success. Legal success requires patience, diligence and persistence 
in the acquisition of knowledge and the application of the prin- 
ciples gained to the problems of life. No man can be a successful 
lawyer unless he reads constantly and assimilates the basic truths 
of this most ancient and most honorable profession. Success in 
the practice of law requires great learning, clear reasoning powers 
and ability to express one's self clearly and cogently on one's 
feet while in the heat of verbal combat. One of the best equipped 
lawyers of the Negro race and one that is endowed with all of Un- 
necessary powers in the superlative degree is Lawyer B. F. Booth, 
of Memphis, Tenn., a leading practitioner, not only :t the bar of 
Tennessee, but of the entire Southland. 

A Native Son of Mississippi. 

The able and eminent barrister whose life story is the burd< n of 
this sketch, is a native son of Mississippi, and was born mar 
Baldwin, in Prentiss County, October 17, 1858. He was born 
and reared to man's estate on a farm, and his eminently successful 
career in the legal profession had its first stimulus when he was a 
hard-working youth on the farm. 

His Literary Training. 

The elementary education of the subject was received in the 
common schools of Tippah County. Miss. He attended school 
in the primitive district schools of his county until he was sixteen 
years of age. His active school life was interrupted for a few 



' 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




B I- BimiTH I - 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

years because of the subject's teaching school and working on the 
('arm. In the year of 1880 the subject became a student of the 

State Normal School. Holly Springs, Miss. He was a student of 
that historic institution of Learning when it was in its prime, and 
his intellectual powers were of such a high order that he was one 
of the favorite students of the school. Having been faithful to 
the tasks that were imposed upon him, the subject graduated with 
honor from the State Normal School in the year of 1884. 

A Leading Teaches in His Day. 

The subject began his Long and useful career in the school room 
at an unusually early age, for he had just attained to his sixteenth 
year when he donned the toga of schoolmaster. Not only did he 
teach school before he went to the State Normal School, but he 
taught after his graduation. He had considerable experience in 
the common schools of his native State and of the State of Ten- 
nessee, and for two years he was principal of the public school 
at Bolivar. Tenn. His work in the Bolivar public school was of 
such a character as to cause patrons of the school the greatest 
reluctance to give up his services for him to enter upon the prac- 
tice of law. 

Began the Study of Law in 1884. 

For some inexplicable reason the study of law has always had a 
fascination for the subject, and the result was that he dedicated 
himself to the study and practice of law when he was a youth of 
tender years. He first began the systematic reading of Law while 
he was teaching school at Middleton, Tenn.. in 1884. From the 
proceeds of his wages as teacher he purchased copies of the immor- 
tal Blackstone. which he diligently read while he was teaching 
school. His first attempt at the study of law was alone, but after 
he had laid much of the foundation of this great science he suc- 
ceeded in getting under the brilliant instruction of Col. William 
Inge, of Corinth. Miss., who had the honor of being the first law 
teacher of the subject. Col. Inge was one of the greatest criminal 
lawyers of the State of Mississippi, and at the time the subject 
was being instructed by him Col. Inge was the Speaker of the 
Mississippi House of Representatives. He read under Col. Inge 
for about one year and then subsequently read under Judge Fran- 
cis Fentress. It is doubtful if many law students ever studied 
the principles of the legal profession more diligently than he did. 
Whether teaching school or at home working in the field, his law 
books were his constant companions, and his Inst friends. Truly 



388 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

when working in the field as he did and studying his law books 
as he did. there is no reason why he should not have gained a 
"working knowledge" of law. 

Extent of His Preparation. 

If the subject today represents the very highest type of the 
erudite and successful lawyer, it is because of the fact that he 
was so thoroughly prepared and trained for success. It has been 
the privilege of few law students to receive a more careful prepara- 

ton for legal success. Studying as lie did under the instruction 
of some of the ablest lawyers of the South, he had not only the 
opportunity to receive practical information fresh from the foun- 
tain head, but he gained from this early contact an inspiration that 
made the study of law far more pleasant than it might otherwise 
have been. There is nothing more inspiring to the ambitious 
student than first class instruction. The right kind of instruction, 
together with the remarkable receptive power on the part of the 
brilliant student, made the acquisition of legal knowledge an easy 
proposition. 

His Shingle Out in Bolivar. 

The future eminent lawyer began the practice of his profession 
at Bolivar. Tenn.. September 8. KS8.">. while he was teaching the 
public school at that place. The educational powers that were at 
the head of affairs gave him every encouragement to start out 
auspiciously in his profession, and they gladly retained him in the 
school in spite of the fact that his efforts were turned in the direc- 
tion of the legal profession instead of thi school room. He prac- 
ticed his profession in Bolivar until January, 1889, when he 
moved to the city of Memphis, where he would have a greater 
and more lucrative field for the exercise of his talents. 

A New Lawyer in Memphis. 

The very first ease at law that the subject had was one of the 
hardest and one of the most responsible of his long and brilliant 
career. He seemed to have arrived in the city of Memphis at the 
psychological moment for the greatest effort of his legal career. 
He was counsel iti the famous election contest of Eaton vs. Phelan 
in the contest of the former for a seal in the House of Represen- 
tatives at Washington, D. ('. In looking after the interests of 
his client the Subject had to canvass the four counties o( the 
fenth Congressional District, and he took 1,400 depositions. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 389 

Those were warm times in political lite, and it required a resolute, 
determined heart to undergo the ordeal. This celebrated election 
contest case gave the subject a brilliant introduction to the citizens 
of Memphis, Tenn., and gave him at once a lucrative practice. 

The Most Lucrative Practice ix the South. 

It is reasonable to judge the professional ahilitv of a lawver 
by the number of his clients and the character of his success. It 
is the general belief of those who are in position to know that the 
subject has the most lucrative practice in the South. His fees in 
many instances range from $500 to $'_>.<>()() and $3,000. He has 
the honor of having been paid the largest fee that has ever been 
paid to a colored barrister South of the Ohio river, and the largest 
fee that has ever been paid to any Negro lawyer in this country, 
with the probable exception of Edward Morris. Esq.. the eminent 
lawyer of Chicago, 111. His largest fee was in connection with a 
celebrated contested will case, involving property to the value 
of $40,000. In bringing this cause to a successful termination it 
was necessary for him to travel and take depositions all over the 
country. 

A Marvelous Memory. 

The subject's recollection of legal principles, facts and prece- 
dents borders upon the marvelous. It has been demonstrated to 
the disappointment and sorrow of many a practicing attorney that 
the subject never forgets the law governing any case that he has 
ever read. He is a veritable walking encyclopedia of legal infor- 
mation and the peer of any other lawver at the bar. In the now 
more than a quarter of a century of successful practice it is said 
that he has never made the same legal mistake twice in succession. 

A Versatile Lawyer. 

The subject is one of the best prepared lawyers in America, 
and is considered to be the ideal lawyer from the standpoint of 
versatility. While he is well versed in all branches of the law. yet 
he has a preference for civil law. He is a master of civil proceed- 
ings, and has a practice in that department of the law second to 
few lawyers of the dominant race. Hi- is a great criminal lawyer, 
and this statement is evidenced by the fact that no client of his his 
ever suffered capital punishment. And this is the case in spite of 
the fact that the subject has probably had as much criminal prac- 
tice as any other lawver at the bar. 



39li BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

A Lawyer, Not an Orator. 

The phenomenal success of Mr. Booth as a lawyer is ample 
proof of the superiority of legal knowledge over mere oratorical 
ability. To succeed in the practice of law one must have a pro- 
found knowledge of the principles of the legal profession. The 
mere gift of gab is futile before the tribunal of justice. The 
subject makes no pretensions to the gifts of oratory, because the 
mere power of oratory does not have much weight with the judges 
and the juries into whose hands the fate of defendants is placed. 
The legal efforts of the subject are couched in the simplest and 
most concise language, without the use of any studied phrases or 
glittering generalities. He goes immediately to the meat in the 
legal cocoanut, and has the faculty of making such a clear elucida- 
tion of the law governing the question at issue that there is seem- 
ingly nothing else to be said. He is one of the most resourceful 
lawyers in the world, and knows every possible action to take in 
order to forestall his adversaries and conserve the interests of his 
clients. If there is such a person as a "born lawyer," the subject 
is undoubtedly one of them, for he lias essentially a legal mind. 

Stands High in the Estimation of the Courts. 

From the standpoint of legal ability, the subject stands second 
to none in the estimation of the courts. In his large practice before 
the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee and the United States 
District Courts, his eminent legal qualiricaton has won the admira- 
tion of judges and jurors alike. His simple language, unaffected 
style of delivery, modest bearing, unerring reasoning and profound 
legal learning have deeply impressed the luminaries of the pro- 
fession, and all of them have with a singular degree of unanimity 
conceded to him leadership at the bar of public justice. 

Official Attorney. 

The subject Ls not only one of the organizers of the Fraternal 
Savings Bank & Trust Company of Memphis, but he is its regular 
attorney. Not only has his money helped to give financial strength 
to this well known hanking institution of the race, but his wise 
Counsel has enabled the bank to steer clear of the Scylla and 
Charybdis of business adversity and make one of the most phenom- 
enal records in the history of banking institutions of the race. The 
subject is also Grand Attorney for the Knights of Pythias for the 
State of Tennessee. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 391 

A Man of Independent Means. 

It is only reasonable that one of the most successful lawyers in the 
ranks of the race should have made a competency in life for him 
self. He is a man in independent circumstances, and has much to 

show for his many years of professional success. It is the supposi- 
tion that the income from his practice will average between $8,000 
and $10,000 yearly. Frequently his income is in excess of this 
sum. but seldom under. In addition to owning one of the hand- 
somest homes in the city of Memphis, he is the owner of several 
other pieces of improved property in Memphis; also, he owns a 
valuable farm of forty acres near Millington, Tenn. He is one 
of the most substantial citizens of Memphis, and has earned his 
competency by the powers of his superb legal mind. 

His Estimable Wife. 

The 21st of March. 1901, will ever be memorable to the subject 
by his marriage to Miss Edith Martin, of Memphis. Tenn. She is 
the mistress of one of the most elegant homes in the city of Mem- 
phis, and she presides over her home with queenly dignity. The 
union of the subject and his estimable wife has been cemented by 
one of the most precocious girls in the land. Miss Bennie Jennet te 
Booth, who bids fair to be as fine a young woman as she is now a 
precocious child. 

His Great Career. 

The subject of this sketch has had a great career from whatever 
standpoint his interesting life may be considered. He is the builder 
of his own monument of success, for he had no advantages in his 
youth except what his indomitable will and perseverance gave to 
him. His great success should be an inspiration to every boy of 
the Negro race to do the best of which he is capable. For over a 
quarter of a century he has met on the field of legal combat hun- 
dreds of the ablest and most gifted members of the Anglo Saxon 
race, and his success with them has been so marvelous as to excite 
their commendation instead of their resentment or envy. It is the 
willing admission of all that the subject is one of the foremost 
lawyers, irrespective of race, that can be found in this whole 
country. He is a hard student, and has gained his pre-eminence 
by adhering strictly to the practice of his profession and leaving 
other things alone. Many years ago the subject realized the tact 
that law is a jealous mistress, and will tolerate interference from 
no other source. He is devoted to the study of his profession, and 
that is the explanation for his wonderful success. 




392 DEACON LIGHTE OF THE RA 

Professor E. II. McKissack, A.M., Holly Springs, Miss. 

T WILL undoubtedly be a great surprise to many of 
the thousands of friends and admirers of the distin- 
guished educator and business man whose name graces 
the head of this sketch to read that he is a native of the 
city of Memphis. Tennessee. So seldom has it been the good 
fortune of that city to number its native sons in the galaxy ot" the 
race's greatness that in this particular instance it will be as grati- 
fying as it is surprising. The name of this eminent educator li is 
always been associated with the State of Mississippi, and it is 
somewhat difficult for his friends to readjust their minds to tin 
fact that he is by birth a worthy product of the city on the big 
bluff, where he first opened his infant eyes November 22, I860. 

Ax Alumnus of Rist L'xiyersitv. 

His education was acquired in the schools of Holly Springs, 
Miss., to which place his parents carried him when he was a mere, 
prattling babe. Rust University claims the honor of his education. 
He is a man of the greatest intellectuality, and he is probably tin- 
best known and most highly esteemed alumnus of the university 
which so proudly claims him as her own. He completed the classi- 
cal course of Rust University in the year of 1895, and received 
his master's degree from this institution in tin- year of 1898. 

A Member of the Faculty of Rfst University. 

The record of Professor McKissack while a student at Kust 
University was such as to commend him early to the best wishes ot 
the college authorities, and during a great part of his student life 
under the fostering care of his alma mater he was oik- ot' its most 
earnest and most faithful teachers. The fact is. he was one of 
the most serviceable men ever connected with the university, and 
his versatile accomplishments enabled him to fit in acceptably 
wherever there was an imperative need ot' first-class ability and 
leadership. He was the general utility professor while connected 
with the faculty of Rust University, and because of his ability to 
get results he was for many years a factor indispensable to the 
Wi lt'are ot' the college. 



B 



Might Have Been President of Hist University. 

The official connection of Professor McKissack with Rust I Di- 
versity was of long duration, and it is probable that the records 
will show that his tenure of office in thai institution was longer 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 







PROF. E. II. McKISSACK, A.M. 



394 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

than that of any other professor in the history of the college. He 
was principal of the commercial department lor three years; he 
occupied the chair of mathematics for two years, and he was 
professor of natural science until his resignation from the faculty 

in the year of lillO. For fifteen years he was the honored Secre- 
tary of the faculty of Rust University, and so generally were his 
merits, both as an educator and high class citizen, known and appre- 
ciated, that he was tendered the exalted office of President of the 
University in the year of 1Q09. 

Has the Qualification for an Ideal College President. 

It is the profound belief of many of the friends of the worthy 
professor that it would have resulted in unprecedented prosperitv 
for that grand old institution of learning if he had honored it with 
the acceptance of its presidency. The professor was for a whole 
generation one of the pillars of the institution, and no other man 
was better acquainted with the needs of the college and more able 
to pilot it to the haven of success. 

It has been the misfortune of Rust University to change its 
official head on more occasions than one. and it was largely because 
of Professor MeKissack's continuance in office that the university 
lias gotten along with so little inconvenience. 

Considering his long connection with the college, his splendid 
intellectuality, .and his masterly ability as a schoolmaster. Professor 
McKissack would have made an ideal President of Rust University 
if it had been convenient for him to accept the great honor that 
was tendered him. The successful management of a great college 
requires not only great intellectual ability, but great business and 
administrative ability as well. This is a business age. and a man 
with business ability of a high order can acceptably rit in wherever 
he is needed, provided his intellectual equipment is of the proper 
caliber. The professor is one of the ablest business men in the 
Mate of Mississippi, and just such a man as should preside over 
the destiny of an instituton of the character of Rust University. 
He has perhaps the largest persona] acquaintance in his State, and 
is at the same time one of the most popular men in the State of 
Mississippi; consequently, with his great executive ability, com- 
bined with all the other elements which commend him to popular 
favor, he would have given Rust University the grandest adminis- 

tration in its history, if he had been able to accept its presidency. 
I'rotessor McKissack is interested in SO many important business 
' nterprises in his State, and his time is so occupied in their man- 
agement that not only could he not accept the presidency of the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 395 

university in question, hut he was compelled to resign the position 
which lie had so long and faithfully filled. He had retained his 
position with the university for many years at a great personal 
sacrifice, and he felt that his loyalty to the interests of tin- univ. r 
sity had been sufficiently tested to tin neglect of his own personal 
affairs. 

A Veteran Leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The great service which Professor McKissack was able tor so 
many years to render his alma mater was because of his versatile 
ability. Early in life he became an active worker in the domain of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church and a factor as influential in 
church work as he was in the domain of education. For fifteen 
years he was the honored Superintendent of the Sunday School of 
Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church of Holly Springsj Miss. In 
the year of 1898 he was licensed to preach the gospel, and he was 
subsequently ordained by Bishop Andrews. For six months he 
was pastor pro tempore of Asbury M. E. Church of his home town, 
and his service in that capacity was acceptable in the usual way 
characteristic of the man. He has been honored in the highest 
degree by his church. He was a delegate to the General Confer- 
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church in its sessions at Cleveland. 
Chicago. Los Angeles and Baltimore. Maryland. He is a member 
of the Board of Control of the Epworth League. He represented 
the Seventh Episcopal District as a member of the Insurance 
Board of the church, and he responded to his name on the pro- 
gram at the session of the National Epworth League Convention 
at Seattle. Washington, in the year of 1 <)0f). From the efficient 
and graceful manner in which he has served the interests of his 
church, it is evident that if the professor had elected to take up 
holy orders for his life work he could have aspired to the highest 
ranks in the gift of bis church. 

Ax Active Political Leader. 

The worthy subject of this sketch has a highly creditable career 
in the domain of politics. He has ever been faithful to the exercise 
of his rights as an American citizen, and he has no apology to 
make for his manliness in cherishing the elective franchise as being 
one of the dearest prerogatives of American citizenship. He 
believes that in a decent, respectable and manly way every compe- 
tent man should exercise every privilege that is guaranteed him 
by the constitution of the land, for in no other way can there be 
real, representative self-government. With him the trite saying 



396 BE AC OX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

that the voice of the people is the voice of God. holds good only 
when the sovereign people exercise their political rights. The 
versatile professor is not a political agitator, nor is he an extremist 

along any line, but he is a man that has always been noted for 
his conservative principles. He does not seek to array one class 
of his fellow citizens against the other, for in the final analysis 
he has as much to lose in a material way as almost any other colored 
man in the South. In politics, while he has affiliated with the 
Republican party, he has always been in favor of the men whom 
he has conceived to represent the most liberal sentiment for the 
welfare and prosperity of this Southland. He has been for men 
and principles in contradistinction to party and professions, but 
his affiliation along party lines has been with the historic Repub- 
lican party. He has been Chairman of the Republican Congres- 
sional Committee of the Second District of Mississippi, and he 
was Chairman of the Marshal County Republican Committee. He 
was honored with election as delegate to the National Republican 
Convention in the years of 1904 and 1<)(>8. and at each time he 
was made the head of the delegation by the biggest vote that was 
polled. He is not a politician for the loaves and fishes, but from 
principle. He believes in the exercise of his political rights, and 
in doing the same he is guided by sacred principles instead of pelf. 

Secretary-Treasurer Odd Fellows' Benefit Association. 

It is not as a man active in the councils of political organiza- 
tions that Professor McKissack is best known all over the State 
of Mississippi. While he is an eminent educator and business man. 
il is probable that he is most widely known and appreciated as i 
leader and genius in fraternity circles. In the year of 1888 he 
was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Odd Fellows' Benefit 
Association of the State of Mississippi, and has served in that 
capacity for a generation, having been repeatedly elected to that 
exalted position of trust and responsibility. In his official capacity 
he looks after the finances of that greal and leading fraternal organ- 
ization in the State of Mississippi, .nid liis masterly knowledge as 
an accountant and his long and successful experience as a business 
man have made him one of the most efficient public servants in the 

history of race lodgedom. He is peculiarly adapted to the SUCCeSS 

lul management of his office because of' his thorough knowledge 
of business principles and his known financial stability as a citizen, 
rhe word of Professor McKissack will go with all classes as far 
as any other man of his state, and it rin^s as true as a gold coin 
fresh from the government mint. His office is located in Holly 
Springs, ami it is perfectly equipped as to facilities and conveni- 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

ences for clerical work. He has office appliances to the value of 
more than two thousand dollars, and they include typewriters, 
adding machines, cabinets and all the latest, up-to-date parapher- 
nalia. There are employed in the office six capable and efficient 
clerks, bookkeepers and stenographers, and they are in service the 
year round. There is an air of strict business permeating the office 
that is characteristic of the head, and the office is a wholesome 
example of providing for the worthy, capable young people of tin- 
race constant, respectable and remunerative employment. 

Business Manager Mississippi Odd Fellow. 

In addition to conducting the affairs of his office as Secretary 
and Treasurer of the Odd Fellows' Benefit Assocoation, he is the 
Business Manager of the Mississippi Odd Fellow, a weekly pub- 
lication that is run for the benefit of the order. It is a sprightly, 
newsy paper, which carries the welcome tidings of Odd Fellowship 
throughout the whole land, and many copies of that paper are 
carried across the sea to circulate in the British Isles. It is a 
wholesome sheet, and serves well its purpose of showing to the 
world the best features of the giant organization that is known. 
respected and honored in every nook and corner of the State of 
Mississippi. 

The Master Mind of the Odd Fellows of Mississippi. 

The capable and efficient manner in which the able and accom- 
plished professor managed the affairs of his office has commended 
him to all the powers that be in the organization. In the year of 
1901 at Philadelphia he was elected First Grand Auditor to look 
into the accounts of the three hundred thousand Odd Fellows that 
constitute the fraternity of the whole country. He was for two 
years Deputy Grand Master of the State of Mississippi, and he 
filled the office of Grand Secretary for one year. His is the 
master financial mind of the Odd Fellows' fraternity, and in look- 
ing after its interests he has not only penetrated every section of 
the State, but he has traveled extensively all over the United States. 

A Power in Fraternity Ranks. 

The worthy professor is not only one of the most conspicuous 
leaders connected with the Odd Fellows of the Stat.- of Mississippi. 
but he is also powerful in the councils of some of the other fra- 
ternal organizations of the State. He is Most Fminetit Super- 
visor of the United Reformers of the State of Mississippi, a benevo- 



J9J BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

lent society that was organized in the year of 190.'$, and whose 
membership in the State has increased to 7.000. It is a lively, pro- 
gressive organization, and seems destined to give some of the other 
societies a close run for popular favor. He is also a member of 
the Supreme Board of the Independent Order of the Sons and 
Daughters of Jacob of America. He is a prominent member of the 
Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Tabernacles, and 
he is a patron of the Eastern Star Chapter. In order that the able 
professor might be able, figuratively, to soar into the empyrean 
heights, he cast his fraternal lot with the Eagles. He has a con- 
nection with the Household of Ruth. It is probable that he i-. i 
member of all of the organizations that are in the State of Missis- 
sippi, and the writer may just as well make his membership in 
them all unanimous. 

A Man With a Great and Noble Wife. 

On the 24th of August, in the year of 1880, Professor McKissack 
made the master business stroke of his life when he admitted to 
matrimonial and business partnership for life Miss Mary A. Exum 
of Yazoo City, Miss., and it is largely because of the possession of 
such a worthy and gifted wife that the professor has been able to 
make the wonderful headway that he has. He has no hesitation in 
admitting that his dear wife has been the real making of him. and 
that without her assistance and unselfish devotion for lo these 
many years, he never could have gained the degree of success that 
his crowned his efforts. She is an all-round woman and talented 
to an unusual degree. She is a graduate of Rust University, ami 
was a teacher in the schools of the State of Mississippi for some 
time. She has always been prominent in religious and fraternity 
circles. 

She Represented the Household of Ruth in Europk. 

She is the only colored woman of America that ever represented 
the Household of Ruth in Europe, which she did in the year of 
1907. She has been repeatedly invited since that time to return to 
Europe and work for the order in England. While she was visiting 
in England she was highly honored because of her talents and her 
official capacity, and some of the people of the highest rank wen- 
proud of the opportunity to do her honor. She was at her best as 1 
representative of her race in a foreign land, and she did much in 
her capital speeches to elevate her race in the estimation of the 
world. She is a peerless woman, and his proven to he the real 
power behind the throne of her distinguished husband. She has 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

for most of the time remained at home and Looked after the affairs 
of her husband, and she has shown an executive ability of the 
highest order in the management of his business affairs during his 
absence. She has played her part well, and no one will more gladly 
and more proudly testify to this fact than her grateful and popu- 
lar husband, Professor E. H. McKissack. 

A. C. McKissack, A.M., M.I).. Jackson, Miss. 

Two children have blessed their married life. Their talented 
son, A. C. McKissack, A.M.. M.D.. is one of the leading young 
physicians of the State of Mississippi. He is a graduate of 

Meharry Medical College, as well as an alumnus of the college 
department of Rust University, from which he received his master's 
degree. He has enjoyed all the advantages that a young man 
could have, and he seems to have made the best use of them. He 
is Grand Medical Examiner of the Odd Fellows of Mississippi, 
and he holds a similar professional relationship with the Independ- 
ent Order of Sons and Daughters of Jacob of America, the Eagles, 
and the United Reformers. He is also Supreme Medical Director 
of the Colored Woodmen. He is a first-class medical man, and 
has licenses to practice his profession in the States of Tennessee 
and Mississppi. He has one of the most elegant homes in the 
thriving and progressive city of Jackson. Miss. In the year of 
1 J)08 Dr. McKissack was united in marriage to Miss Margaret 
Atwood of Jackson. Miss., a talented and accomplished daughter 
of Hon. L. K. Atwood. one of the Leading lawyers and bankers of 
the State of Mississippi. Dr. McKissack has the ability to make 
his way and is equipped as are very few of the young men of the 
race. He has been an exemplary son since the earliest period of his 
youth, and there is nothing reasonable in his father's power that 
he would not do for his son. The son has ever been noted for his 
veracity and honesty in his dealings with his father, and it is but 
natural that the father should take much pride in these two most 
sterling traits in his son's character. The doctor is a chip off the 
paternal block, and will weather the gales of life in the manner 
of his distinguished father. A little cherub now graces the home 
of the medical son. and will contribute years of pleasure and happi- 
ness to the lives of its dear and devoted parents. 

A Leading Financier and Bisinkss Man. 

Professor McKissack is reputed to be one of the wealthiest men 
of the race in the State of Mississippi. His financial strength 
is so great that there is hardly a strong financial institution of the 



400 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

State that Mould fail to welcome his strength and solicit his patron- 
age. He is a stockholder of the .Merchants & Farmers' Bank of 
Holly Springs. Miss.; he is a stockholder of the Oil Mill & Ice 
Factory Company of Holly Springs. Miss.; he is a stockholder 
of the Standard Life Insurance Company of Atlanta, Georgia. He 
is the Second Vice-President of the American Savings Bank & 
Trust Company of Jackson, Miss.; he is a director of the Southern 
Bank, of Jackson. Miss., one of the strong banking institutions of 
the State; he is General Manager of the Union Guaranty Insur- 
ance Company of the State of Mississippi, a corporation recently 
organized with headquarters in Jackson. Miss., and capitalized at 
$50,000. It is a corporation that will engage in a general bonding 
business, and in connection it will conduct an accident and life 
insurance department on a parity with the leading companies of 
the United States. It has four thousand men under bond to trans- 
act in a proper manner the business of the company, and it will 
maintain offices in all parts of the State. It will not limit its opera- 
tions to the State of Mississippi alone, but it will compete for the 
patronage of the race throughout the whole of the United States. 
The future of this great company is bright, and its financial soli- 
darity is such as cannot be gainsaid by any one that is acquainted 
with the class of the solid men that are connected with it. 



One of the Wealthiest Men of His State. 

Professor McKissack is one of the largest owners of realty in 
the St;ite of Mississippi. His home residence at Holly Springs is 
one of the most attractive in the State, and is provided with every 
modern convenience and possible comfort. In addition to his mag- 
nificent residence in his home town, he is the owner of ten tenement 
houses in the same town. He has some nice property in the city 
of Memphis. Tenn.. while in the city of Jackson. Miss., he is the 
proud owner of nearly, twenty-four pieces of improved property for 
tenement purposes. This number does not include a substantial 
two-story store that has recentlv been built at considerable cost. 



Started Late, Bft Overtook All. 

The distinguished subject of this sketch was born poor and 
had to make his way through life without the assistance and encour- 
agement of a father. He is truly the architect of his own fortune, 
and it has been the privilege of few men to erect tor themselves 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 401 

in life such an imposing and enduring monument. Every other 

public leader in his State had a distinct advantage of Professor 
McKissack because of the fact that the subject started so late in 
life to educate himself. He was grown and married long before 
he graduated from Rust University, but his gigantic strides up the 
hill of success have enabled him to overtake and pass nearly every 
man who had started out before him. The greatest rewards of 
life are not given to the swift nor to the fortunate, but to them 
that are inherently deserving and that hold out to the end. 

An Estimate. 

Professor McKissack is an able educator, a great financier, a 
forceful and resourceful business man, a strong and independent 
thinker, and a man of pronounced sanity in all things pertaining 
to the welfare of the race. He is an experienced and convincing 
orator, with a predilection for thought rather than sound, and he 
carries in his public addresses at all times something that is well 
worth the attention of thinking men. He is an all-round man of 
affairs, and can give a splendid account of himself in whatever 
capacity he may be called upon to serve the welfare of his fellow- 
citizens. Notwithstanding his placid and thoughtful exterior, he is 
a very witty and jovial man. and in the society of congenial friends 
he is the prince of mirthfulness and good humor. He is a man 
that is loyal to the interests of his race, and the many years of 
faithful service that he has given to the betterment and uplift 
of the race may be regarded as convincing evidence of his fidelity. 



* 



402 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



E. W. Irving, M.D., Memphis, Tenn. 




N PREHISTORIC times there lived a race of people 

known to us of the present (lav as Mound Builders. They 
were people whose lives were shrouded in a mystery so 
deep that a period of a thousand years has not sufficed 
to penetrate the veil; nor would we of the present day know 
that such a raee of people ever existed if it were not for the vast 
mounds that they built, which stand today as mute testimonials 
of their strange tastes and herculean efforts. In some of the States 
of the Middle West these mounds are quite numerous, and it was 
in the vicinity of one of these mounds near the city of Cireleville. 
in the State of Ohio, that the able, genial and popular subject 
of this narrative first saw the light of day August })• 18(39- 

A Graduate of Circleville High School. 

In his youth the subject enjoyed the best advantages that the 
great State of Ohio could afford through the medium of her public 
schools. He graduated from the Cireleville High School in 1889 
with the honor of class orator. The city of Cireleville has always 
held a leading rank in educational matters in the great State of 
Ohio, and the Cireleville High School ranked first in excellence 
among the high schools of that State. This fact gives a faint idea 
•of the splendid educational advantages that were enjoyed by the 
worthy doctor in his youth. His ability and popularity while i 
member of the Cireleville High School were the means of gaining 
for him a scholarship in Duckworth Business College. Columbus. 
Ohio, from which institution he received his diploma of graduation. 

Early Showed \ Talent fob Oratory. 

While he was a student in school he was the recipient of many 
honors because of his exceptional talents. On account of his excel- 
lence, both in scholarship and in oratory, he was chosen by his 
class to deliver the class oration on the occasion of his graduation. 
From his earliest youth he exhibited unusual aptitude for oratory, 
and his later life has only added to his former fame. On several 
demonstrative occasions that are memorable in the history of Mian- 
phis. Dr. Irving ably sustained his reputation as a platform orator, 
and on the occasion of the visit of President Theodore Roosevelt 
to the city of Memphis, the doctor reflected credit on the whole 
race by the masterly manner in which he delivered the welcomi 
address to the Chief Magistrate of the nation. His stvle ol oratory 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



403 




E. \V. IRVING. M. U. 



404 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

is pleasing, his presence commanding, and his size of such magni- 
tude as to give weight to his utterance. 

A Schoolmaster in the South. 

After receiving his diploma of graduation from Duckworth 
Business College, he was induced by a former teacher, Professor 
A. D. Delaney, to go South for the purpose of taking charge of 
Ward Academy, Natchez, Mississippi. He yielded to the request 
and went to Natchez. It was the first time that he had ever 
beheld the South, with its vast colored population and inexhaustible 
resources, and his eyes were distended with amazement. In his 
narrow sphere in the little town of Circleville he had not even 
dreamed of the race's possibilities in the Southland, and understood 
nothing along that line until he first put foot on Southern soil. 
In his new life as schoolmaster he showed ability of the highest 
order, and so acceptable and effective was his work that in the 
course of a principalship of barely three years, the enrollment of 
the school increased from fifty to five hundred pupils, a magical 
increase for such a short time. 

Saw a Colored Physician for the First Time. 

Because of his success in the school room and his general popu- 
larity outside of the same, he might have continued indefinitely in 
pedagogical harness if he had not upon his arrival in the city of 
Natchez seen a colored physician. He had never seen before such 
a wonderful being as a colored doctor, and the very presence of 
such an unheard-of being opened up to him a vista of possibility 
of which he had never even dreamed. The new species of being 
was none other than Dr. J. B. Banks, then as now, one of the most 
capable physicians and also one of the wealthiest citizens of 
Natchez. As soon as Dr. Irving had made the acquaintance of 
Dr. Banks he became obsessed with the idea of becoming a physi- 
cian. This idea was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 
and there was nothing to do but give full rein to this irresistible 
determination. 

A Graduate of Meharry Medical College. 

Having successfully taught in the city of Natchez for about 
three years, he abandoned the profession of teaching to enter 
Meharry Medical College. Nashville. Teim.. in the year of 1S})1, but 
he was able to attend only one year at that time. The next two 
years he spent as a commercial salesman, traveling for a dry goods 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 405 

house in Cincinnati. After this experience he returned to Meharry 
Medical College and graduated from that institution with the honor 
of salutatorian in the year of 1897. 

Began His Professional Career in Memphis. 

In the year of his graduation he came to Memphis to locate and 
practice his profession. Since that time he has practiced his pro- 
fession in Memphis, and has enjoyed a success that is nearly 
unique in the history of the medical practitioners in the city of 
Memphis. He had the intelligence and foresight to locate his office 
in a section of the city that was remote from the other physicians 
and a section in which there had never been located a physician 
of the race, and this location has proved to be a veritable gold 
mine to him in a professional way. 

Experienced in Expert Medical Testimony. 

Among all classes he enjoys the reputation of being one of the 
best physicians in the city of Memphis, and his opinion in expert 
testimony has the weight of authority. As is known to many people, 
there arise countless numbers of damage suits brought by employes 
against employers for damages sustained while working in the 
service of the employers on railroads, in factories, in machine shops 
and in other fields of risk and danger. In every case expert medical 
testimony is sought, and Dr. Irving has been the central figure in 
a very large number of such cases. A conservative estimate of such 
cases is about one case per month. 

The Warash Screen Door Company Versus Mary Lewis, 

Administratrix. 

One of the most celebrated cases with which he was ever con- 
nected, and in which he gained undying fame for medical expert- 
ness, is in the case of the Wabash Screen Door Company versus 
Mary Lewis, administratrix of the estate of Dock Wright, deceased. 
In this particular case suit for fifteen thousand dollars in damages 
was brought by the said Mary Lewis, administratrix of the estate 
of Dock Wright, deceased, against the said Wabash Screen Door 
Company. Dr. Irving was the expert medical witness for the 
plaintiff, and as such he was compelled to break professional lances 
with the most learned and most skillful representatives of the white 
race in the city of Memphis. He was forced to combat opinion 
with the most erudite and the most expert physicians that the great 
financial resources of a giant corporation could employ. It was 



4«'6 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA E 

truly a battle royal of the medical giants. Every phase of the case 
thai could be remotely conjured up to promote tin- interest of 
either the plaintiff or the defendant was analyzed and laid hare. 
Learned counsel injected into the examination every question that 
their ingenuity could suggest in the vain attempt to disprove or 
refute tin contention of Dr. Irving, the plaintiff's main reliance. 
The case was brought in the United States Court of Appeals for the 
Sixth District, the Honorable Justice McCall presiding. Without 
going into tedious and exhausting details, it may he stated that the 
presiding justice bestowed a high compliment upon Dr. Irving on 
account of the high class medical knowledge he had shown in the 
examination of that case. The jury in the United States Court of 
Appeals returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, whereupon the 
defendant company appealed the case to the United States Supreme 
Court, which tribunal affirmed the decision of the lower court. The 
result of this celebrated case was a great triumph for the cause 
which Dr. Irving represented, and it proved not only his high 
medical status, hut his great moral courage to tight for his cause 
against some of the foremost medical men of the present time. It 
must not he overlooked that no man can contest for supremacy 
with the gifted minds of tin opposite race and carry off the palm 
of victory unless he is in every respect a high class physician. 

Medical Examiner for a Leading Insurance Company. 

To give a faint idea of the extent to which Dr. Irving's ability 
is recognized, it is only necessary to state that he is the medical 
representative of the Continental Casualty Insurance Conipanv of 
Chicago. 111., and looks after the interests of the company in all 
damage suits that are brought against the company by its policy- 
holders. This is ,ui unusual honor, and such an honor as is con- 
ferred only upon the most skillful members of the medical profes- 
sion. Dr. Irving is devoted to his profession, and his sole ambition 
is to make an in irtal name in his profession. 

\ \ Able Busini sg M w. 

Nol only is he a physician of the first rank, hut he is a business 

man of ability and experience. He is a stockholder of the Fraternal 

Savings Hank & Trust Company of' Memphis. Teiin. : he is a 
stockholder of the Solvent Savings Hank & Trust Company, and one 

oi the pioneers that has piloted that institution over the shallow- 
waters of distrust and discourage nit lit to its present haven of suc- 
C< ss and prosperity. Tin doctor has souk valuable property in 
the city of Memphis, his elegant and substantial residence being 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



407 



nicely located and of the most desirable character from every 
standpoint. It would Ik a strange man indeed that such a beautiful 
and desirable home could not satisfy. 




IHiiJiiifliiii 



Rill 



iEli 



RESIDENCE OF E. YV. IRVING, M.D. 

His Talented and Devoted Wife. 

It may be wondered why the doctor has been such a great suc- 
cess as a physician and has so far outstripped many others with 
even greater advantages in the race of life. The reason why is. 
obvious. Jn addition to the doctor's extraordinary equipment of 



408 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

brains and push, he lias the inspiration of a Loving and devoted 
wife, and one that is rare in her fidelity to her husband's interests. 
While she is supremely happy in her palatial home which the 

professional ability of her husband has made possible, she would 

be none tin less happy in an humble cottage if it wiTr accessary to 
do so in order to promote the welfare of her husband. She was a 
Miss Elvira A. Jones of Memphis, IVnii., to whose tender and 
Loving care the fates, through the channel of matrimony, committed 
him August {). ispp. She is a graduate of LeMoyne Normal [nsl 
tute of .Memphis, Tennessee, and a pianiste of experience and 
ability. She has since her girlhood been prominently connected 
with the social life of Memphis, and her name has ever been an 
open sesame to all that is best in upper class society. 



A Deserved Tribute to His Mother's Memory. 

Of course, the doctor loves his devoted wife and owes to her 
every appreciation for her fidelity and her sacrifices, but he clur 
ishes the memory of his sainted mother, who was all to him that 
lite could afford, and who now from her home in the skies daily 
transmits to-him her prayers and her benedictions. Mrs. Mildred 
Johnson Irving, his lamented mother, was a native of the State 
of Virginia, and enjoyed the blessings of freedom from her birth. 
She was a woman that was t'ar above the average in intelligence, 
and was entirely absorbed in the educational welfare of her chil- 
dren. Living in the North without the thousand advantages that 
are afforded by conditions in this Southland, the problem of educat- 
ing her children and at the same time properly providing for them 
was a serious proposition, and taxed her ingenuity to the utmost. 
All the resources of her physical and mental being were brought 
into activity to solve the serious problems that confronted her alone. 
Inasmuch as her husband was an invalid and incapacitated to do 
his part, the whole responsibility for the maintenance of the fain 
ily fell upon her faithful shoulders, and how well she (lid her part 
is shown in th« lives of her children that are Living today, respected 
and honored by all who know them. The fact is. she sacrificed her 
life on Hi. altar of her children's welfare. Under her kind and 
fostering care the home life of her children was made ideal. She 
was tint only a mother, but was ,-, companion for her children, and 
enjoyed their perfect confidence. Sun. moon and stars may Los< 
their splendor, but the bereaved son and daughters of Mrs. Mildred 
Johnson [rving will forever hold her memory in grateful and Loving 

remembrance. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE *09 

A Talented and Respected Family. 

The enduring monument to the life of Mrs. Mildred Johnson 
Irving was the sacrifice that she made in behalf of the education 
of her children. All of them were given the blessings of a first-class 
education. The doctor himself is a graduate of the Circleville 
High School and of Duckworth Business College, Columbus, Ohio. 
Miss Minnie M. Irving, now Mrs. Minnie M. Clowers, the esti- 
mable wife of Dr. J. T. Clowers, of Wynne, Arkansas, is a 
graduate of one of the departments of Wilberforce University, and 
was for some time an honored worker in the teachers' profession. 
Miss Grace M. Irving, now Mrs. Grace M. Shelby, is a graduate of 
the Springfield High School, of Springfield. Ohio. She also had 
the honor of teaching school for some time. Miss Maybelle C. 
Irving is a graduate of the Circleville High School, and is now 
one of the most efficient teachers in the city public schools of Mem- 
phis. She is the youngest of the family, and has many years yet at 
her disposal in the teachers' profession before she will have reached 
the stage of apprehension that sooner or later seizes the majority 
of the gentler sex. 

An Estimate. 

Next to his devoted wife, medicine is the doctor's heart. He 
thinks medicine, talks medicine, dreams medicine, practices medi- 
cine and occasionally takes a dose of medicine. He is an honored 
member of the State Medical Association of Colored Physicians. 
Dentists, Surgeons and Pharmacists. He is a skillful surgeon, 
and has wrought some great results in the domain of operative 
surgery. He is an ideal man for a physician, because he is not 
only an able medical practitioner, but he is a good mixer, and has 
the faculty of making lasting friends wherever he goes. He is 
genial, companionable and popular, and his legion of friends con- 
sider him the essence of affability. 

The race needs more men of the character of the subject of this 
sketch, for it takes members of the race of his kind to show to the 
humbler classes that a man can be highly educated, greatly respected 
and reasonablv wealthy without either having the big head or a 
diseased imagination. Dr. Irving is the people's doctor because he 
has what the people want, namely, professional skill, a charming 
personality and a heart and mind devoted to the welfare of the 
masses of the race. 




410 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Rev. T. ./. Searcy, D.D., Memphis, Tenn. 

President Tennessee Baptist State Convention and Pastor 
Metropolitan Baptist Church. 

HE popularity of sonic people is evanescent. It buds 
forth like the sweet-scented rose at dewy morn, only 
to sicken and die long ere the welcome shades of evening 
fall about it. On the other hand, there is a sort of popu- 
larity that grows with the progress of time and. like Tennyson's 
brook, goes on forever. It is a permanent sort of popularity that 
is produced and intensified by the worthy character of the man r 
•and not by any selfish ambition on his part to win popular favor. 
There is presented to the readers of this volume the brief life 
story of one of the most deserving and one of the most popular 
men that ever lived in the State of Tennessee, and a man whose 
great popularity has been attested by the unanimous voice of the 
members of his denomination who have been pleased to confer 
upon the subject every honor that is in their power. 

Born on Tennessee Soil. 

Rev. Thomas Jefferson Searcy is a native of the Old Volunteer 
State, and first beheld the light of day in Rutherford County. 
November 1. 18;V2. He was born a slave, but he feels rather lone- 
some because he can hardly find anybody else that had a similar 
< xperience. It has long since been the fad of many, who were 
really born in slavery , to have no distinct recollection of their sad 
experience, but the reverend subject of this sketch has no hesita- 
tion in proclaiming to the world that he was born in slavery, and 
that In was once in the eyes of the law of' the land a mere chattel, 
instead of a human being. 

His Literary Training. 

A boy in the beginning of his teens at the close of the Civil 
War. he did not enjoy the educational advantages that are at 
present the privilege of marly every boy in the land. His early 
life covered tin benighted age of the race, and tew were the for- 
tunate oiks th.it enjoyed the lust advantages for intellectual cul- 
ture. The subject was born on a farm and had to take his educa- 
tional chances just as docs the typical farmer boy. He had to get 
a catch-as-catch can sort of education, and this mode of acquiring 
knowledge has been so deeply implanted in his character that he 
has ever since been catching at every opportunity for self-improve- 
in< nt. He has ever been an inveterate student, and bv his own 



BEACON LI GUTS OF THE RACE 



411 




KEY. T.J.SEARCY, L>. D. 



412 BEACOS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

diligence and perseverance he has acquired an amount and a 
variety of knowledge that would put to shame many a college 
graduate. In the year of 1873 he matriculated at Roger Williams 
University, Xshville, Tenn.. and remained a student of that grand 
old institution for nine years, or until he received his diploma of 
graduation. While the subject is an alumnus of Roger Williams 
University, yet he is alumnus of a university by far greater in 
the scope of its beneficence, the University of Life, in which 
institution he has taken all of the degrees of life's curriculum. 

In the Sacred Calling of the Ministry. 

While the subject was a student at Roger Williams University 
he received the call to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church 
at Brownsville, Tenn.. which he accepted. He was ordained in the 
gospel ministry May 7. 1883, and for marly three decades he has 
expounded the Word of Life and exhorted sinners to repentance. 
His ministerial life has been entirely restricted to the State of 
Tennessee, and it has been his good fortune to till some of tin- 
leading charges in the State. No other minister in the State of 
Tennessee stands higher in the councils of the Baptist denomination 
of the State, and no other minister has been more hiffhlv honored. 

President Tennessee Baptist State Convention. 

At this time the worthy subject is the most highly honored mem- 
ber of the Baptist denomination of the State of Tennessee, for he 
is the exalted President of the Baptist State Convention of Ten- 
nessee. This is the second time that he has been called by the 
great Baptist majority of his State to the presidency of the State 
( onvention. As President of the convention he has a large and 
extensive field for the exercise of his versatile powers. He is a 
matchless, sagacious leader of the people, and was never SO well 
equipped intellectually and morally as he is now. He has a per- 
sonal following that is State-wide, and his administration has 
already accomplished great things for the cause of the denomination 
and the spiritual uplift of the masses of the race. 

High Official in Denominational Circles. 

The subjeel is not only prominent in the councils of the Baptist 
denomination of his own State, but he is a power in the National 
Baptist Convention, and is one of that august body's Vice-Presi- 
dents. In the deliberations of that body his clarion voice has ever 
been heard on the side of peace and Christian love. He is one 
of the pillars of the convention, and has helped to make it the 
grandest and most powerful religious body in the world. He is 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 413 

Chairman of the National Educatonal Hoard of the Baptist Na- 
tional Convention. He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees 
of Howe Institute and Business Manager of the Signal, which is 
the official organ of the Baptists of West Tennessee. 

Pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church. 

The subject is pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church, which 
has one of the largest congregations in the city of Memphis. Tenn. 
He has a large and enthusiastic following, and enjoys thi respect, 
esteem, confidence and love of his people as few ministers of the 
gospel are capable of gaining. The church has a membership of 
nearly seven hundred and an edifice that is valued at over $20,000. 

As an Ohator. 

The subject is one of the most gifted orators in the ranks of 
the ministers of his denomination, and is easily one of the oratori- 
cal stars on every occasion that he may grace. It is doubtful 
if there is a more popular orator with the masses in this whole 
country. There seems not to be an admonition or appeal to his 
hearers for which he can not find an illustration in life. His is 
the oratory for results. If he were a general in war and should 
harangue his soldiers to sack or lay pillage to a town, his appeal 
would be immediately carried into execution. If the waters of 
sedition and revolt were rising to their Hood tide he could pour on 
them the oil of peace and make them be still. He has a super- 
abundance of homely common sense and plantation philosophy, and 
between these two means he usually succeeds in reaching the under- 
standing of the humblest people and getting the results desired. 
He is often flowery, and when such is the case his rhetorical flores- 
cence is simply overwhelming. He is sound in his philosophy and 
is never identified with anything but sensible and sane principles. 
He is witty, serious and grave at will, and can play witli master 
hand the whole gamut of human feeling. He is a favorite as a 
general orator, and is often sought for speeches on all subjects and 
on all kinds of occasions. 

Has Prepared for the Rainy Day. 

Dr. Searcy has worked hard and honestly won some of the most 
substantial rewards of life. He has proved himself to be a great 
preacher, but he is quite as capable a business man as he is a 
preacher. His home is one of the most attractive in the city of 
Memphis, Tenn.. and is estimated to be worth $6,500 or more. In 
addition to his splendid residence he is the owner of one hundred 
acres of fertile and productive laud on President's Island. Tennes 
see. Also, he is the owner of some unimproved property in the 



414 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



city of Memphis. He is Secretary of Mt. Carmel Cemetery Com- 
pany of Memphis, and largely interested in it financially. He is 
well prepared for the rainy day. should it ever be the will of Provi- 
dence for it to conic his wav. 

His Faithful, Devoted Wife. 

1 here are two reasons why Roger Williams University will ever 

be dear to the memory of the subject of this sketch. First, it was 
the intellectual inspiration of his life, tor in its classic and hal- 
lowed walls he spent many of the most profitable days of his life 




RESIDENCE OF REV. T.J. SEARCY 



in preparation for his present life of service and usefulness to 
liis people. Secondly, it was in t li.it same dear school that he first 
became thoroughly acquainted with his future wife and perceived 
in her those admirable qualities thai would make her the queen of 

his I :. December 15, 1886, Dr. T. J. Searcj was united in the 

holy bonds of wedlock to Miss Ella F. Ashford, of Courtland, Ala. 
She received her higher educational training at Roger Williams 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 415 

University, Nashville, Tennessee, and among the multiplicity of 
her innate charms and accomplishments while a student at the 
university was the particular one that did the work to Dr. Searcy's 
heart and won for her one of the most gifted men in the ranks of 
the race and, better than all, one of the best men in the world. She 
was one of the leading teachers in the schools of Alabama and 
Tennessee for some time, but she resigned the responsibilities of a 
public servant in order to become mistress of a kindergarten of her 
own. Four boys and one girl have blessed the union of Dr. and 
Mrs. Searcy. Mrs. Eugenia Beatrice McAllister is a graduate of 
Howe Institute, Memphis, Tenn., and is the wife of Prof. C. L. 
McAllister. Mr. Lucian J. Searcy is a graduate of Fisk Univer- 
sity, class of June, 1911. and he is a musician of unusual ability. 

A Great Rack Leader. 

The subject is a born leader of his race, for he is endowed with 
every natural and acquired requisite for successful leadership. He 
is at all times a level-headed, sensible, discreet man, incapable of 
losing his mental equilibrium. He knows the conditions affecting 
his race in this Southland and the exact manner in which to lead 
his people in the paths of peace, progress and happiness. In his 
community he has always exercised a restraining influence on the 
people of both races in the time of race strife and excitement, and 
his judgment has ever merited the endorsement of the conservative 
and thinking element of people. He is acquainted with the South- 
ern white man from every angle, and knows just what steps 
to take in dealing with him in order to get results. It is his 
experience that the Southern white man is. at heart, one of the 
best men in the world, and is sincerely desirous of the progress of 
the Negro race and that the Negroes that prove themselves worthy 
will have the care, encouragement and protection of the best ele- 
ment of the dominant race. In his own personal experience with the 
white people of his city he has usually gotten everything in reason 
that he has ever sought, and he has had countless evidences of the 
sincere interest and friendship of the white people among whom 
his lot has been cast since the day of his birth in the Old Volunteer 
State. Dr. Searcy not only knows the white man. but he knows 
considerable about colored people, too. for when he was a very 
small hoy he used to play with other small colored hoys. Since he 
is perfectly acquainted with the members of both races in this 
Southland, there is no reason why he should not he the matchless 
race leader that he is. He is an extraordinary man. and it has 
been his good fortune, through the instrumentality of Providence, 
to have accomplished an untold amount of good, not only for his 
own people, but for the cause of human progress the world over. 




416 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

C. W. Allen, Mobile, Ala. 

Funeral Director and Fmbalmer and Secretary- Treasurer 
Masonic Endowment Find. 

S A RULE, a prophet is without honor in his own coun- 
try, but this declaration is far from being a fact in the 
case of the serviceable and popular subject of this sketch, 
whose life story forms the burden of this narrative, for 
no other man of the race in the city of Mobile, Ala., be he native 
born or otherwise, has been more highly honored or shown himself 
to be more deserving of trust, confidence and honor. 

A Native of Mobile, Ala. 

The worthy and useful subject of this sketch is a native of the 
city of Mobile, and was born October 17. 187-2. Unlike the 
majority of men that have risen to place and prominence in the 
domain of church or state, the subject can not claim the pride of 
birth on a farm; nor can he claim an experience with any of the 
hardships that are incident to farming life. In his case, at least, 
it has been demonstrated that it is not necessary to be born on a 
farm and inured to its hardships in order to attain to the highest 
degree of service and usefulness to one's fellow citizens and country. 

Has a Heavy Claim on Mobile. 

The fact that the subject is one of the worthy native sons of 
Mobile possibly accounts for the high esteem in which he is lull 
by the citizens of Mobile. While the writer was in the city of 
Mobile for the first time, in the summer of If) 10. the subject was 
absent from the city in attendance on his official business as one 
of the leading fraternity men of his State. The writer had. for 
this reason, an excellent opportunity to judge concerning the 
esteem in which the subject is held by the Inst people of his town, 
and from the experience of the writer then' is reason to believe 
that no other man in the city of Mobile stands higher in public 
esteem than he. 

His Education. 

The parents of the subject were in most humble circumstances, 
and thus could not give to their son the educational advantages that 
they would have been too glad to do if they had been able. The 
subject's education was gained largely by his own earnest efforts 

and hard work. He was educated in the public schools of Mobile. 
Ala., and at Finerson Institute of the same cit\. Emerson Institute 



■-'.'■ 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



417 




C. W. ALLEN 



418 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

is one of the pioneer educational institutions of the race in the 
citv of Mobile, and has done much to improve the intellectual and 
moral life of that community. This school was long ago established 
by the American Missionary- Association, and has been the only 
aima mater of many of the worthiest and most successful men and 
women of the city of Mobile. The subject has not the honor of a 
diploma from this worthy institution, but he gained in its hallowed 
walls an inspiration to accomplish something worthy in life. 

Early Out in Life. 

Mr. Allen started out in life early to make an honest living. At 
the age of fifteen years he took up the responsibilities of a wage- 
earner. Beginning at the humblest stage of menial service, he 
gradually worked his way up to employment in the government 
service in the position of carrier in the Mobile postoffice. The 
subject served as a carrier in the Mobile postoffice for ten years, 
and made a record for high class efficiency. While serving in the 
Mobile postoffice he had the honor of representing the Mobile 
Letter Carriers' Association three different times at the National 
Conventions of Letter Carriers at its sessions in Denver, Col., 
Chicago, 111., and New York City. 

A Veteran Real Estate Max. 

The subject is a veteran dealer in real estate, and in co-partner- 
ship with his confidential friend, Mr. James T. Peterson, he suc- 
cessfully engaged in the realty business for several years. The 
firm operated under the name of Peterson & Allen, and it was one 
of the leading real estate firms in the State of Alabama. 

A New Undertaker in* Mobile. 

On the 10th of November, 1904, the subject, in partnership with 
Mr. Harney, purchased the undertaking firm of A. X. Johnson, 
which at that time was one of the most complete and one of the 
costliest funeral establishments in the South. Since purchasing 
this premier funeral directory they have added to their equipment, 
modernized it and developed it along progressive and up-to-date 
lines, until now it is second to few, if any, in this whole country. 

Its Volume of Business. 

In the year of 1909 the undertaking firm of Allen & Harney 
did a business to the value of $25,000. In the citv of Mobile the 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 419 

conipanv had the honor of interring one-third of the mortality List 
of the city, irrespective of race. As the population of the city 
of Mobile, by the census of 1<)10. was over fifty thousand, it is 
possible to make a reasonable calculation as to the amount of busi- 
ness that was done by this enterprising firm. 

The Company's Capital, Equipment and Service. 

The value of the undertaking establishment of the firm of Allen 
& Harney is $21,000. Its equipment lacks nothing that can serve 
the comfort and welfare of the company's patrons. It has four 
first-class funeral cars, five landau carriages, four buggies, one 
ambulance, one casket and flower wagon, one dead wagon, and 
eighteen horses. It has convenient and well-appointed stock rooms, 
containing paraphernalia of all kinds to the value of more than 
$4,000. The company is so modern and up-to-date in its equipment 
and facilities that it can satisfy the wishes of the greatest dignitary 
in the State. "A maximum of service for a minimum of cost" is 
the business maxim of this premier funeral establishment of the 
race, and it is the consensus of opinion on the part of the people 
of Mobile that the company carries out its business maxim to the 
letter. 

The Mobile Weekly Press. 

The company has an unusual side line. In addition to its regu- 
lar undertaking establishment it publishes the Mobile Weekly Press, 
a newspaper that has circulated for sixteen years in the interest 
of the race, and is considered the only weekly organ of importance 
in the city of Mobile. It has a circulation of 2,500, and is read 
and appreciated by all classes of people, not only in the city of 
Mobile, but throughout the State of Alabama. It has an equipment 
that would be a credit to any first-class newspaper plant of tin- 
race anywhere in the land. There are installed in the printing 
department a newspaper press of large size and two job presses, 
all run by electricity. Not only does this enterprising firm provide 
the best newspaper for the colored people of Mobile, but it has the 
honor of doing most of their job printing. This department of the 
company is invaluable as an advertising medium, and one of the 
best assets of the company. The value of the printing department 
alone is $3,500. 

Secretary-Treasurer Masonic Endowment Find. 

Not only is the subject one of the premier business men of his 
native State, but he is most prominent in fraternal circles. He is 



420 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Secretary-Treasurer of the Masonic Endowment Fund for the 
State of Alabama, and is thus the fifth wheel in the affairs of that 
great organization. In his official capacity of Secretary-Treasurer 
of the Endowment Fund he has proven to be a source of beneficence 
to the order that cannot be estimated. Tin endowment department 
is the bulwark of fraternity life, and affords the same kind of 
protection to its patrons as a policy in a life insurance company. 
It is the one feature of fraternity life that shows both the business 
character and philanthropic spirit of the organization, and it has 
already become the dominating principle of fraternity life. The 
popular subject of this sketch, in the performance of his duties, 
travels all over the State of Alabama, and is one of the best known 
men in the State. He is the messenger of protection to the widows 
and orphans of the order, and is a most welcome visitor to the 
homes where bereavement and sorrow dwell uncomforted. As 
financial head of the endowment fund, the subject's annual report 
for the fiscal year ending in 1910 showed a total collection of 
$75,000 and total disbursements of $70,000 for the same time. The 
subject has proved to be one of the most efficient men in the ranks 
of the order, and eminently worthy of the exalted office which he 
has held so long and so faithfully. He is also one of the leading 
members of the Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows of the State 
of Alabama. 

Regards His Political Rights. 

The worthy subject has not slept on his political rights and 
opportunities. He has ever regarded the exercise of the political 
franchise as the most sacred prerogative of citizenship, and he 
thinks that he had just as well not live at all if he must be a 
political cipher in the affairs of the nation in which he enjoys the 
rights of citizenship. In the true sense of the term, no man is a 
citizen that does not manifest any interest in the machinery of 
government. He believes that his political welfare, just as his 
undertaking business and his other material affairs, needs his per- 
sonal attention or it will suffer. He does not believe in jeopardizing 
his political rights by inactivity, nor will he surrender to the hands 
of others this most precious birthright of citizenship. The subject 
is one of the leading political spirits of the State of Alabama. He 
is a member of tin- Republican Stat. Executive Committee, and 
bad the honor of being a delegate to the National Republican 
Convention which nut in Chicago, 111., in 1008 

His Wife a Prominent Educator. 

\ v soon as the worthy subject had attained to his majority he 
decided to marry and settle down to a life of responsibility and 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 421 

duty. He was not born so rich as he was horn lucky, for such 
indeed must have been the case when he succeeded in winning the 
affections and hand of his estimable and talented wife. The sub- 
ject's friends can not doubt the wisdom of his judgment, especially 
after having used it so wisely in the selection of a companion for 
life. On the 6th of June. 18{)8. the subject led to the altar Miss 
Josephine Blackledge of Mobile. Ala. She is a graduate of the 
Mobile Colored High School, and was also a student of Emerson 
Institute of the same city. She is a woman of the greatest intelli- 
gence and influence in her community. She is one of the useful 
and serviceable women of the race, and has done much for the wel- 
fare and uplift of the race. She is one of the leading educators of 
the race in the city of Mobile, and the sphere of her influence has 
even spread beyond the borders of her native city and State. 

Mrs. Allen was an honored teacher in the Mobile Colored High 
School for three rears. In the vear of 18.08 she organized the 
widely known private school, the .Josephine Allen Private School. 
The growth of this school has been phenomenal in every respect. 
Not only has it grown in numerical strength up to 350 pupils, but 
its sphere of influence has correspondingly increased, until its work 
has become of interest to no inconsiderable number of the best 
people of Mobile. In the management and instruction of the pupils 
of her school she employs four teachers to assist her. While in 
the city of Mobile the writer heard many most creditable reports 
concerning the splendid character of the work that is being done 
by Mrs. Allen in her school, and the writer is glad to know that 
the city of Mobile has such a capable, enterprising and splendidly 
prepared educator to look after the private education of the race in 
that city. In the final analysis the private school will afford the 
best opportunity for the higher education of the youth of the race, 
and it is well that this progressive educator has taken the initiative 
in founding a school that will in the future, as well as in the 
present, mean so much for the intellectual and moral uplift of the 
youth of the race. 

A Wealthy, Progressive Citizen. 

The subject is not only one of the foremost men of his State 
in fraternal circles, but lie stands high in the business and financial 
world. He is the owner of ten pieces of improved property in the 
city -of Mobile, and this property is of considerable value. Not 
only has he a substantial home in the city of Mobile, but he has i 
residence on Portersville Hay. Coden, Ala., a distance of twenty- 
seven miles from the city of Mobile. The subject is one of the 
coming wealthy men of the city of Mobile, and there is no better 



422 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

demonstration of the truth of this prediction than the remarkable 
progress that he has already made. He is growing by leaps and 
hounds, not only in the goods of this world, hut in the esteem and 
confidence of his fellow-citizens. 

Has a Fine Son. 

The subject is the- proud father of a fine son. who is now sixteen 
years old.' Master Allen is now a student of Fisk University. 
Nashville, Tenn.. and bids fair to be a worthy successor to his 
dear father. It affords quite an opportunity for thought to con- 
trast the father's opportunities with those of his son when the 
father was at the age of the talented son. At the age of sixteen 
pears the son. because of the intelligence and wealth of the father, 
is enjoving a white boy's opportunities, but the father at the son's 
age had quit school to enter the great university of life and hard 
work to prepare the way for his son. It is the hope of the writer 
that the son will so well use his opportunities that he may be as 
great a benefactor to those who will follow him as the worthy 
father has been a source of care, protection and love to the son. 

A High Class Man. 

The subject is not only one of the first men of the State of 
Alabama in usefulness, popularity and high character, but he is a 
fine specimen of physical and intellectual manhood. He is the 
essence of affability and kindness and the personification of liber- 
ality. He is an organizer and a man of splendid executive ability. 
As a financier he has few superiors, if any. and his administration 
of affairs, both fraternal and personal, has demonstrated the fact 
that he is an extraordinary business man. Tin name of Allen 
stands for a great deal, not only in the city of Mobile, but all over 
the State of Alabama, and the writer is glad of the opportunity to 
inspire the youth of the race with his bright example of SUCC< :SS. 



iJ 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



423 



A. 1). By as, M.D., Memphis, Tenn. 
President North Memphis Dri'g Company. 




ODESTY in either man or woman is one of the most 
admirable traits of character, whether it be seen in con- 
nection with high mental or moral endowment or in the 
material walks of life. Therefore, it is a delight to see 
becoming modesty in a man. notwithstanding the fact that he has 
achieved success of an unusual character along more than one line 
and mainly by his own efforts. A worthy example of this class 
of successful men is the well-known physician and business man, 
Dr. A. D. Bvas. whose life storv forms the burden of this narrative. 



A Native Sox of Mississippi. 

The subject of this sketch first saw the light of day near Kos- 
ciusko. Mississippi. May 9. 1871. He was born on a farm and 
lived amidst a farming environment until he had attained to his 
majority. A product of the State of Mississippi, he has carried 
with him, wherever fortune has impelled him, those qualities of 
body and mind which are so evident in the native son of that com- 
monwealth and which confer upon him prominence and leadership 
in every worthy department of life. 

His Dear Parents. 



The parents of the subject are still living, and it is their happy 
fortune to realize in the successful lives of their children the answer 
to their many prayers. Mr. James Byas and his faithful life 
companion. Mrs. Laura C. Byas, are living in the same old home- 
stead in which were born their children, and from which most of 
them have gone out into the busy world to give an account of 
themselves in the walks of man. These devoted parents wen- 
born in the days of slavery, but they had enough of instinctive 
knowledge to appreciate the value of education and to try to give 
to each of their children every educational advantage that was 
in their power. In spite of their great struggle and sacrifice to 
rear and educate their children, they managed by systematic econ- 
omy and thrift to accumulate some of the goods of this world, for 
the father is the proud owner of about five hundred acres of farm 
land, and is regarded as one of the most successful farmers of his 
community. 



424 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




A. D BY AS, M I). 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 425 

His Literary Training, 

The worthy subject is the second link in the family chain of 
twelve children, nine of whom were hoys, and he is the eldest now 
living. In his youth he attended the district schools around Kos- 
ciusko, Miss., and continued in them until he had advanced to 
the eighth or ninth grade. Determined to prepare himself the 
better for the exigencies of life, the subject decided to go off' to 
college, so in the autumn of 1888 he matriculated as a student of 
Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss. For seven long years he 
was identified with the student life of that institution, and imbibed 
much of that inspiration that has counted so heavily toward his 
success. He persisted in his devotion to study and finally as a 
reward for his diligence and devotion he received his diploma of 
graduation from that institution in 1895. 

Medicine ox the Brain. 

In his boyhood days on the farm the subject used to watch with 
longing eyes the old neighborhood doctor, riding along in solemn 
dignity with saddle bags dangling and playing a tattoo on the 
sides of his jaded and decrepit horse. That sight made an indelible 
impression on the subject's mind, and created in him the resolution 
some day to be a doctor himself. An additional stimulus for him 
to carry into fulfillment his resolution was the pledged agreement 
between him and one of his brothers that the subject would be a 
doctor, while the older brother would be a lawyer. At that time 
the subject had never seen a Xegro doctor, and for that reason 
his resolution was the more creditable. 

A Schoolmaster for Years. 

The subject began his career as a schoolmaster in Attala County. 
Miss., when he was nineteen years old and continued chiefly in 
summer sessions during his whole period of attendance at Rust 
University and the medical college from which he finally gradu- 
ated. Not only did he teach school in the State of Mississippi 
but he also kept school in Hardeman and Shelby Counties of the 
State of Tennessee. His career in the teachers' profession was 
brought to a close in the year of IS')*). 

A Graduate in Medicine. 



In the autumn of L895 he first began to realize the dream of 
his vouthful life to be a doctor by going off' to Nashville, Term., 



426 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

and entering Meharry Medical College tor the purpose of sys- 
tematically studying the medical profession. He matriculated more 
on nerve than on money, but by teaching in vacations and denying 
himself many necessaries he was able to graduate with honor in 
the class of 1899- 

His Shingle Out in Sunny West Tennessee. 

Having received his diploma of graduation from Meharry Medi- 
cal College in 1899, the subject eho.se sunny West Tennessee as 
the theater on whose stage he was to play his medical part. He 
located in the neighborhood of Benjestown, Tenn.. and practiced 
his profession there for five or six years before moving to the 
city of Memphis in 1905. The doctor had the largest general prac- 
tice in his section of the county when he was located at Benjestown. 
and prospered both professionally and financially. In the year of 
1905 he moved to the city of Memphis, where the opportunities for 
professional success would be much greater than in a strictly rural 
community, and the wisdom of his action has long since been demon- 
strated. 

A First-Class Physician. 

Since beginning the practice of medicine the subject has gained 
a gratifying success. He is one of the leading physicians of Mem- 
phis, and has a host of admirers, both of his professional skill and 
his affable personality. He stands on a parity with the most 
capable physicians of Memphis, and his expert opinions have the 
weight of authority. He has an extensive practice, both in tin- 
city proper and in its environs, and he is one of the busiest medical 
men in his community. 

A Fine Family of Brothers and Sisters. 

In very few families of the race are found so many talented 
and ambitious brothers and sisters .-is are found in tin family of the 
subject. When the lowly origin of their parents is considered and 
their own lack of educational advantages known, these same dear 
parents have erected for themselves an enduring monument. Dr. 
J. V. Byas. a brother of the subject, is a practicing physician o\ 
Millington. Tenn. He is a graduate of the class of 1!»<H) at 
Meharry Medical College, and is having a success among his people 
that is truly inspiring. Thomas II. Byas is an embryo doctor, 
and is now a member of tin senior class of Meharry Medical Col- 
lege. A. ('. Byas is another prospective disciple of Aesculapius, 
and is a member of the junior class of Meharry Medical College. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE All 

Each one of these most excellent young men is a graduate of 
LeMoyne Normal Institute. Memphis, Tenn. Of his dear and 
devoted sisters. Miss Carrie L. Byas is a graduate of the Normal 
Department of Rust University and is now serving as Preceptress 
of Mississippi Industrial College, Holly Springs. Miss. Mrs. 
Lucy A. Byas Horton is a graduate of the normal course of Rust 
University, class of If) 10, and served as teacher for some time. 
Miss Rosa Byas is now enjoying her student life at M. I. College, 
and bids fair to be as well prepared to succeed in life as her pro- 
gressive and energetic brother, the subject himself. James Byas 
is a well-to-do farmer in his own right, and also attends to the 
farm of his father. Master Victor Byas. the youngest of the 
family, is a student of Central Mississippi College, Kosciusko. 
Miss. 

A Splendid Business Man. 

If the phenomenal success that the subject has achieved in only 
a few years be considered, he has proved himself to be as splendid 
a business man as he is a physician. He has been practicing barely 
twelve years, yet he has accumulated quite a competency for life. 
He has two or three valuable farms in the Benjestown district, and 
he is the owner of several pieces of realty in the city of Memphis, 
Tenn. He is President of the North Memphis Drug Company, 
and one of the best type of the aggressive and progressive business 
man and medical practitioner. 

His Palatial Home and Devoted Wife. 

There is one statement in this sketch that cannot be successfully 
contradicted, and that is the declaration that the subject of this 
sketch is the owner of one of the most elegant and one of the 
most substantial residences in the city of Memphis, Tenn. It is 
not necessary to add the stereotyped phrase, "irrespective of race," 
for it would be a credit to any member of the dominant race to 
own in his own right such a splendid and such a palatial home. 
It is a two-story building of tight rooms, the first story being 
veneered brick, the second story slate and the roof slate. The 
doctor erected this splendid home at a total cost of $7,000 for the 
expressed purpose of giving to his dear, devoted and faithful wife 
some tangible evidence of his great love for her and his apprecia- 
tion of her fidelity and assistance for the many years of their 

married life. 

In the year of 1901 the worthy subject of this sketch wooed, 
won tin- heart of and led to the altar to be his bride Miss Lula 
McPherson. of Shelby County. Tenn., a talented and accomplished 



428 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



teacher in the schools of Memphis. She is a graduate of LeMoyne 
Normal Institute, and spent one year of her life in the teachers' 
profession as a schoolmistress in the hallowed walls of her alma 
mater. The doctor feels deeply indented to his dear wife for her 
assistance, and he does not believe that he could have done half so 
well without the benefit of her counsel, encouragement and assis- 
tance. In the planning and erection of their beautiful home her 




KHSIDKNCK OF PR. A. D. in AS 



ideas and wants took precedence over every other suggestion, and 
much of the beauty of her home is attributed to her. In the pos- 
- ssion of such a companion the subject is a very fortunate man. 
On the other hand. Mrs. I.ula Hvas was indeed a fortunate woman 
to have won the love, care and protection of such a worthy, deserv- 
ing and capable husband as the man ivhose name graces the head 
of t liis sketch. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 429 

IV. K. Mollison, Vicksburg, Miss. 

Attorney and Counsellor. 

ANY great men have been connected with the history of 
the State of Mississippi, and this fact applies equally 
to the men of both races. In the pioneer days of the 
Commonwealth of Mississippi, when it was in the infancy 
of its Statehood, adventurous men from all parts of the Union were 
attracted to the State, drawn there by its fertile soil, its salubrious 
climate and its inexhaustible natural resources. Brilliant statesmen, 
gifted orators, renowned educators, pious and consecrated ministers 
of the gospel, great legal luminaries, political adventurers and 
general soldiers of fortune emigrated to the State as if in search 
of the modern El Dorado. In the days of reconstruction many 
of the ablest colored men of the North were attracted to the State 
because of the unusual opportunities for political preferment that 
were in the reach of talented men of the race. The State was a 
sort of political Mecca in those days, and much of the ability that 
was found in the colored ranks of the Republican party was brought 
into the State at that time. 

A Native Son of Mississippi. 

One of the native citizens of the State of Mississippi, and one 
who in ability, both natural and acquired, stands out pre-eminent in 
the ranks of the great nun of the State, is Honorable W. E. 
Mollison. the able barrister of Vicksburg, Miss. He was born in 
Issaquena County, September 15, 1859- His ancestors had cut 
down the mighty monarchs of the virgin forests, subdued and 
exterminated the wild denizens of the primitive wilderness, plowed 
up those new-born fields and laid the foundation for the blessings 
of civilization which all the people of the State now enjoy. Thus 
to a great degree the State of Mississippi is deeply indebted to 
the ancestors of the distinguished subject of this sketch, who culti- 
vated the soil in the vicinity of the city of Vicksburg and made it 
blossom like the rose. 

An Infant Intellectual Prodigy. 

Of the many remarkable things concerning this extraordinary 
man. the most conspicuous one has to deal with his education. In 
the days of his youth there were no educational advantages for the 
boy who had the misfortune to have been born with the "shadowed 
livery of the burning sun." Moreover, he was born on the very 
eve of the internecine conflict that deluged this nation in blood and 
resulted in the freedom of the Negro race. He had only the barest 



430 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




\V. E. MOLLISON. ES' ! 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 431 

plantation opportunities for education in the days of his youth. 
He was a boy of remarkable precocity, and this is demonstrated by 
the fact that he learned to read when he was only four years old. 
In many respects he was an infant prodigy, and was looked up to 
by all the country around as the brain of the neighborhood. He 
mastered all the intricacies of Webster's Blue Back Spelling Book 
while he was living in a log cabin on the banks of the Mississippi 
river. He had a ready insight into the art of reading, and that 
art was for several years the only source of his information. He 
devoured with ravenous appetite every book that he was so for- 
tunate as to get his hands on, and he thus became one of the best 
read youths in the country for miles around. So dense and so 
universal was the illiteracy around him that he was the only colored 
youth in his vicinity that had a knowledge of reading from the time 
he was six years old until his eleventh birthday. The humble 
natives came from miles around to hear him read the Bible and 
other books, and his humble cabin was indeed a modern Mecca to 
which the faithful might repair in search of the gospel of truth and 
righteousness. Of course, the youthful intellectual prodigy had 
to pay a heavy penalty for his knowledge, for it entailed countless 
efforts at reading for the benefit of the hundreds that regularly 
came to his cabin for their spiritual and temporal edification. So 
frequently did he read the Bible for the benefit of his hearers 
that not only did he know a great deal of the same by heart, but 
it bred a sort of distaste for the book which it took quite a number 
of years to destroy. He was not only the public reader for the 
whole neighborhood, but circumstances forced upon him the respon- 
sibility of being the public letter writer for the neighborhood. Thus 
it is evident to the readers of this narrative how indispensable to 
the welfare of his fellow citizens Mr. Mollison was in the days 
of his youth, and he is none the less a necessity for his fellow- 
citizens in the full strength of his manhood ; and it is more than 
probable that those conditions which forced him to serve his 
fellows, when a mere youth, were incentives to prepare him for 
even greater service in his mature manhood. 

A Brilliant Student at College. 

Inasmuch as the greater part of his education was self-acquired 
in the early days of his youth, it was perfectly natural that he 
should have been developed in a one-sided manner, which wis 
really the case. He could read like a philosopher and spell like a 
wizard, but he was sadly deficient in the other fundamental 
branches. Of course, he was a very ambitious youth, and wanted 
to obtain a first-class education, so at the earliest possible oppor- 



432 BE A COX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

tunity he went off to college. In the year of 1876 he doffed his 
homespun trousers and quit the confines of his youth, and went oft' 
to Fisk University. Nashville. Tenn. He was a raw country youth. 
it was tjue. but he was far from being a simpleton. He was far 
behind many of those who had been blessed with better advantages 
than he. and so he waded into the studies of the curriculum with a 
grim determination to get a maximum of results in a minimum of 
time. He summoned to his resources all of the innate energies 
that had enabled his ancestors to triumph over the primitive con- 
ditions in a new country, and he succeeded. When he entered 
Fisk University lie was classified three or four classes above the 
class in which he really belonged, but he struggled and made good. 
By diligent application he went as far as the middle preparatory 
class in Fisk University, having been inconvenienced by late entrance 
and early leaving for the farm. After having attended Fisk Uni- 
versity for a short time, the subject of this sketch was attracted 
to Oberlin College, where he completed his literary training. The 
whole time that he spent in Fisk University and Oberlin College 
covered a period of about twenty-three months. While a student 
at Fisk University he did in ten months' time an equivalent of five 
years' work for an ordinary student. In his student career at Fisk 
University and Oberlin College he gained a good working knowledge 
of Latin. Greek and the German language, and at Oberlin College 
he won great distinction as a brilliant student, a veritable twenty 
carat diamond in the rough. 

In Public Life. 

He quit Oberlin College in the year of 1879 <ind went home 
to take up the responsbility of the teachers' profession, but on his 
return home he ran for the office of Chancery Clerk when he was 
only twenty years old. but lie suffered defeat in this his first 
political venture. Not at all discouraged by his late defeat, he 
bought a newspaper, which he edited and ran for three years. He 
was appointed by a Democratic administration Superintendent oi' 
the public schools of Issaquena County for a term of two years, 
but before the expiration of his term of office as Superintendent he 
was elected Clerk of the Circuit and Chancery Courts of Issaquena 
County. Thus acting in accordance with the opinion of the Attor- 
ney General of the State, he held at the same time the dual office 
of Superintendent of Instruction and Clerk of the Circuit and 
( hancery Courts. As owner and publisher of the county news- 
paper, combined with the other positions of trust and responsibility 
which he held, there were four positions in his keeping at one time. 
He was the honored Clerk of the Circuit and Chancery Courts of 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 433 

Issaquena County from the year of 1884 until the year of 1892, 
inclusive, and he was re-elected to the position without a dissenting 
vote. About that time, or in the year of 1890, the State Constitu- 
tional Convention of the State of Mississippi was held, and it 
wrought far-reaching changes in the laws of the State, and owing 
to the changes in the constitution the colored voter was Largely 
eliminated from the political affairs of the State. 

Admitted to the Bar in 1881. 

The subject had read law from the beginning of his student 
life at Fisk University, but beginning in the year of 1880, Mr. 
Mollison took up the earnest study of law in the office of Judge 
E. Jeffords, a famous legal luminary that had once graced the 
bench of the Supreme Court of his State, and he was admitted 
to the bar in the year of 1881. He was as precocious in the study 
of law as he had been in the prosecution of his literary branches, 
and consequently it was an easy matter for him to forge rapidly 
to the front as a practicing attorney. In the year of 1893 he had 
the honor of being appointed by one of the judges to the exalted 
position of District Attorney pro tern of Issaquena County, and 
he filled with distinction this office for the whole term. In the 
year of 1900 he Was appointed by the President of the United 
States to be Supervisor of the United States census for the Seventh 
District of Mississippi, one of the largest districts of the State, and 
in that capacity he was responsible for the proper enumeration 
of the population of his section of the State. 

The Peer oe Any Lawyer at the Mississippi Bar. 

While Mr. Mollison is easily one of the ablest and one of the 
most versatile men in the State of Mississippi, his undying fame 
will rest more on his ability as a member of the bar. His qualifica- 
tion is eminently and pre-eminently legal. As a lawyer he at one 
time had the largest criminal practice in the State. He is perhaps 
tin most widely known colored lawyer in his State. He has actively 
practiced his profession in nine counties of the State, and has been 
employed in a legal capacity in twenty-five counties of the State. 
In recent years he has to a great extent applied his great talents 
to the practice of civil law. He has built up a great reputation 
as an attorney in land cases. His opinion in such cases is con- 
sidered conclusive. He is one of the leading chancery lawyers of 
the State, and fortunate is that attorney that can prevail against 
him in a case at law. He has a passion for the study of law. anil 
it is his proud declaration that lie would rather have the honor of 
being a first-class lawyer than to have the honor of being supreme 
judge of the universe. His practice is one of the most extensive 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

and one of the most lucrative in the State, and his clientele num- 
bers among them representatives from both races of this Southland. 

He LS counsel lor Supreme Cam]) Colored Woodmen; he is counsel 
for Grand Camp Colored Woodmen; he is counsel for the Knights 
of Tabor; he is counsel for the United Brothers and Sisters of 
Benevolence; he is counsel for the State Golden Rule Societies: he 
is counsel for the Mound Bayou Oil Mill tS: Manufacturing Com- 
pany; he is counsel for the United Reformers; he is counsel for 
the Lincoln Park Land Company. 

Prominent in Fraternity Circles. 

It is perfectly natural that a man of Mr. Mollison's ability 
and general versatility should have been drawn into activities 
outside of the domain of law and politics. The world is so consti- 
tuted that for the man of ability along any line there will always 
be an abundance of work to do. So along fraternity lines his 
transcendant ability has been called into requisition, and he has 
guided to success one or more of the best known fraternities in tin- 
State of Mississippi. He is Supreme Governor of the Colored 
Woodmen and Grand Attorney for the Mississippi jurisdiction of 
this order. This order operates in Louisiana. Alabama. Arkansas 
and has applied for admission to the State of Tennessee. It was 
organized in the year 1 <)(>(). and in the short period of its existence 
it has grown to wonderful proportions. It now has a total member- 
ship of 7.000. and it is still growing by leaps and bounds in every 
direction. 

A Great Btsixess Promoter. 

Lawyer Mollison is a man of large and varied affairs. Between 
his extensive legal practice and his multitude of business interests 
he is one of the busiest men in the State of Mississippi. He is 
President of the Lincoln Park Land Company of Vicksburg, Miss., 
a company capitalized at $10,000 3 and engaged in general realty 
transactions. He is one of the original stockholders of the Solvent 
Savings Bank of Memphis. Tenn.. an institution which has been 
highly successful in its financial operations. He is a stockholder 
of the Delta Savings Bank of GreenviUe 3 Mississippi; lie is a 
director of the Mound Bayou Oil Mill & Manufacturing Company 
and the attorney for the same company, lb- is one of the promoters 
of the Union Guaranty Insurance Company of Mississippi, an 
insurance company composed of some of the ablest men anil greatest 
financiers of the race, and destined to be of invaluable service to 
the interests of the race. Mr. Mollison is the attorney of this 
insurance Company, and his masterly legal mind will look well to 
the interests of' this company. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 435 

His Estimable and Devoted Life Partner. 

On the 5th of October, in the year of 1880, Mr. Mollison made 
the greatest plea of his life, when he succeeded in winning the hand 
of his dear wife, who was in the days of her single blessedness 
Miss Ida T. Welborn of Clinton, Mississippi. She is a graduate 
of Fisk University, and was an honored teacher in the schools 
of the States of Kentucky and Illinois. The happy couple were 
married at Fisk University, and thus those classic walls that had 
formerly rung with the praises of Mr. Mollison when he was a 
brilliant student at Fisk University now reverberated with the 
joyful acclaims of Hymen. 

Their Talented Family. 

Seven children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Mollison, 
and they thus present a living example of their views on the 
momentous question of race suicide. Each one of their children in 
some worthy avenue of life is striving to uphold the family name 
and maintain the family honor. Miss Willie Ethel Mollison, now 
Mrs. C. B. Minor, is a graduate of both the academic and the 
music department of Tougaloo University. She has had experience 
as a teacher, and was for some time employed in that capacity in 
the schools of Greenville and Vicksburg. She is a noted pianiste, 
and occasionally gives lessons on that instrument. Her devoted 
husband is a promising young attorney of the city of Vicksburg, 
and a hard and capable worker in the law office of his distinguished 
father-in-law. Miss Lydia Wells Mollison is now a student in the 
college department of Tougaloo University. Miss Mabel Z. Molli- 
son is a graduate of Oberlin Business College, of Oberlin, Ohio. 
She holds a diploma from one of the leading business colleges of 
this country, and she is a well equipped young woman from both 
an intellectual and business standpoint. She is an expert stenog- 
rapher, and has done much work in the way of court reporting and 
teaching stenography. Miss Annie M. Mollison is a graduate of 
the McDowell School of Dressmaking and Designing, of Chicago, 
111., and she also holds a diploma from the Blesse School of Mil- 
linery of the same city. Owing to her proficiency in these prac- 
tical accomplishments of housekeeping, she has taught these arts 
at Shaw University, Raleigh, X. C. Welborn Atwood Mollison is i 
student of Tougaloo University. Irvin C. Mollison. thouirh only 
twelve years of age. is one of the best informed boys of his age 
in the State of Mississippi. He is an inveterate reader and an 
embryo walking encyclopedia <>{' useful and valuable information. 
He is a bookworm of the thirty-third degree, and he can wade 



436 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

through a series of ponderous and formidable looking books with 
the same equanimity with which the average youth would read 
through a fascinating novel. He has cultivated familiarity with 
some of the master minds of literature, and he is well on in the 
development of one of the brightest minds that will some future 
day grace the institutions of this country. The writer now comes 
to the youngest scion of the honorable house of Mollison. Master 
Walter G. Mollison. a youth of tender years. He has reached that 
period in youth when the sum total of human existence revolves 
around the athletic field. The sweetest music that can charm his 
ears is the sonorous whack of the baseball bat when it lands with 
violent thud on the festive horsehide and sends it up in the form 
of a parabola to the distant territory in the baseball lot. He is a 
typical American youth, with the reddest of red blood coursing 
through his veins, or he would never be such an intense devotee 
at the shrine of the national pastime. There is a great future for 
this American youth, for at the psychological moment he will trans- 
fer the greater part of his youthful energies to the more useful walks 
of life and gain in them a degree of fame not less than he has 
gained on account of his devotion to baseballology. 



His Personality. 

Mr. Mollison is not only one of the most distinguished lawyers 
of the State of Mississippi, hut he is one of the best known men 
in his home State. Whether as a lawyer, legislator, platform 
orator, business man or fraternity builder, he takes a leading rank 
with the best men in the State. In general ability he is the peer 
of any other man in the State, and it is an honor to the State of 
his nativity that it should have given him to the nation. 

Mr. Mollison is a man of the highest culture and the most charm- 
ing personality. He is a man of fine presence, and he is endowed 
with all the graces that tend to make him such an ornament to 
society. He is a tine conversationalist, and there is an affability 
characteristic of the man that makes him very easy of approach 
to even the most diffident. He is an orator of note, and in the 
realm of forensic effort he has an ability that suffers nothing in 
Comparison with any of the gifted sons of the State. He is an 
adroit and experienced politician, a trained legislator, a capable 
business man. a convincing orator, an able lawyer and one ot the 
lust all-round men in the land. He is a sort of modern Chesterfield 
in his manners and in his hearing, and he is altogether one ot the 
most picturesque, most fertile in ingenuity and most brilliant men 
in the whole Southland. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



437 




MRS. (i. P. HAMILTON 



438 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Thomas II. Hayes, Memphis, Tenn. 

Funeral Director and Embalmer, \m> Vice-President of 
Solvent Savings Bank & Trust Company. 




N THE I5th day of August, in the year of 1868. there 
was born in the suburbs of Richmond. Virginia, a being 
whose history was destined to shine with stellar bright- 
ness in the business and financial firmament of the Negro 
race. The old Dominion State wrought well for the race when it 
brought into existence the popular and lovable man whose grand 
success in the business world has not only been an inspiration to 
the race, but has indelibly emblazoned his name and fame on the 
bright pages of the race's history. When the subject of this sketch 
was only a tiny lad of three years of age. his parents quit the 
State of his birth and turned their adventurous steps toward the 
West, and did not stop until they had reached the western section of 
sunny Tennessee, where they located on a plantation near LaGrange. 

Quit the Farm to Come to Memphis. 

His whole life to his sixteenth birthday was spent on a farm. 
and he was thoroughly inured to the duties and hardships of farm- 
ing life. Ambitious to earn more money than farming life made 
possible, lie quit the farm for a Mason, came to the city of Mem- 
phis, Tennessee, when he had reached his sixteenth birthday, and 
secured employment with the Milburn Iron Works Company in 
South Memphis. The splendid discipline which he had received 
on the farm was of gnat value to him in his new field of activity, 
and he succeeded in his two-fold desire to make good with his 
employers and to earn the money that he was anxious to possess. 
In a short time he returned to the farm, but the superior advantages 
and attractions of city life had borne their fruits, and he again 
shook the rustic dust from his feet and returned to the city of 
Memphis, which was to be his permanent home. He worked as a 
porter on Front street for ten years, and finally saved up enough 
Capital with which to enter the grocery business on a small scale. 
From tin- earliest days of his youth he had an uncontrollable 
craze to be a grocer, so at the first reasonable Opportunity he 
realized on an humble scale flu dream of his youth. 

Three Business Failures in Succession. 

He first began business on Gholston street, but he was not des- 
tined to succeed in liis first mercantile venture. On the contrary, 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



439 




THOMAS H. HAVES 



440 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

it was his misfortune to score failure number one. His next mer- 
cantile venture was a grocery store on Beak- avenue, but in 
spite of his buoyant expectations and high hopes for business suc- 
cess, the Nemesis of mercantile disaster still pursued him. and the 
result was that he scored nothing hut failure number two. Not at 
all discouraged, he next tried the experiment of business lite on 
South Second street, and again the fates would not confer pros- 
perity upon him, for in this third venture in business life he scored 
failure number three. In connection with these repeated examples 
of failure it may be explained that they resulted from no lick of 
ability on his own part, but they were caused by the fact that he 
entrusted the management of his business to the hands of others. 
In those days it was his misfortune to be a very poor man. and it 
was absolutely necessary for him to work out in order to make all 
ends meet. His business was not well enough established to main- 
tain him, and that fact made it necessary for him to go out in service 
in various capacities. 

Educated Himself When He Was Nearly Grown. 

When the subject of this sketch had become practically a grown 
man it dawned upon his understanding that he needed an education 
if he ever really desired to be a successful man. So he entered 
Howe Institute. Memphis, Tenn.. as a student, and was placed in 
the lowest class of the school. From the beginning his progress 
was remarkable, and he gained class after class until at the expira- 
tion of two years' attendance he had advanced to the eighth grade. 
It is doubtful if his career as a student has had a parallel in that 
school, and it is more than probable that his meteoric rise in scholar- 
ship while a student of Howe Institute was the precursor of his 
subsequent unparalleled success in business life. In order that his 
attendance at school might not be interrupted and that he might 
have a steady income lor the purpose of attending school. Mr. Hayes 
bought the outfit for a barber shop and set himself up in the business 
of a barber, notwithstanding the fact that he had never had in 
hour's experience in that business before. Hut he had grit, con- 
fidence in himself and self-reliance, and these qualities are nine 
points in one's favor while fighting the battles of lite. He estab- 
lished himself on Poplar avenue, and he was successful beyond hfs 
most sanguine expectations. 

An Earnest Student and Self-Made Barber. 

There was something refreshing in the supreme confidence of 
Mr. Hayes respecting liis ability to make good in the tonsorid 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 441 

business, for he had not had the Least experience in that line and 
It is probable that he had never manipulated the shears on any 
other living being but a bewooled sheep. In a short time he gained 
a splendid reputation as a finished .artist in his line. He did not 
inflict upon his customers the "Mother cut." which had made their 
vouth SO miserable, but he gave them an artistic trimming that 
was a joy to behold. His barbershop served its purpose in pro- 
viding him the means for gaining an education. He worked at his 
trade diligently and burned the midnight oil of study, and thus 
accomplished in two years of study as much as it would have taken 
a less determined and ambitious mind five or six years of unremit- 
ting effort. Seldom has it been the case that a young man has 
possessed the foresight to make such a systematic preparation for 
gaining an education. In that sole act may be seen the real char- 
acter of the man. When he has made up his mind to accomplish a 
certain object in life all the powers of doubt and darkness will be 
futile against his iron determination. 

A Traveling Commercial Salesman. 

But it was not the intention of Mr. Hayes to continue in the busi- 
ness of a tonsorial artist. It had enabled him to gain some of the 
education that he needed, and having served its purpose, he sold 
out his barbershop and went to selling clocks and Bibles for the 
Red Star Supply Company of Memphis. Tenn., and remained 
with that firm for about a year and a half. While connected with 
that firm as traveling salesman he was not blind to the financial 
success that he was reaping for the firm, and it occurred to him 
that if he could succeed so well in a business way for others he 
could certainly succeed as well for himself. This is quite a serious 
thought, and should be carefully considered by a host of others of 
the race. If the man has the ability to do well for some one else 
he ought to be able to do equally as well for himself. Moreover, 
the element of self-interest enters largely into the success of any 
business venture, and a man will often exert himself' with greater 
fidelity to his own business interests than he would to the interests 
of any other person. There are in every community well qualified 
and capable men that have been content to slave out a lifetime in 
the service of some one else, without the slightest chance ever to 
advance a single step beyond the position they hold, whereas if 
they had the spirit of adventure and real manhood, they would have 
cut loose from the slavery of eternal meniality for others and 
become their own business masters. Mr. Hayes realized this impor- 
tant fact, severed his connection with the Red Star Supply Com- 
pany and went into the same kind of business is his own boss and 



442 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

master. He traveled a year selling clocks. Bibles and the like and 
•rained a knowledge of business and human character that wis to 
be of inestimable value to him in his subsequent business life. 

His Fourth Business Failure. 

It was not the will of fate that Mr. Hayes should continue indefi- 
nitely in the business of an itinerant salesman on a commission 
1 asis. for during his whole experience he had heard the still, small 
voice of his first business love calling him back to his allegiance. 
Like the ghost of Banquo. the grocery business would not down. 
So he quit the business of traveling salesman and resumed business 
as a grocer. He organized the most pretentious business affair 
with which lie had ever been connected, the Central Grocery Com- 
pany, consisting of three or more partners, and he again started 
out with the usual dreams and hopes of success for an earnest 
business man. but it availed him naught, because he was doomed to 
score his fourth successive failure in the grocery business. He 
closed the doors of his defunct business establishment and went 
back to hard work on Front street with the sole desire of liquidating 
in full at the earliest possible moment every dollar of indebtedness 
that he owed the merchants that had accommodated him. for it has 
ever been one of the cardinal traits in the character of Mr. Hayes 
never to owe a man a single penny any longer than it is necessarv 
to earn it and pay the obligation. Having worked on Front street 
until he had paid every dollar of his indebtedness, he resolved to 
go back into the grocery business. His four previous successive 
failures had not daunted him. and he was determined to rise Phoenix- 
like from the ashes of former failures. Mow he finally succeeded 
is shown in the continuation of this story. 

His Fifth Business Venture a Success. 

All of his debts having been liquidated, he was at liberty to try 
business life again, which he did on Ross avenue. Memphis, Term. 
He began business with a capital of thirty-five dollars in cash. Two 
prominent merchants who had accommodated him before and knew 
his reliability came to his assistance with a stock of groceries to the 
value of three hundred dollars. He had made his final resolution 
to succeed in this fifth business venture. He had greatly profited 
by tin adverse experiences of former business mistakes, and he 
knew what st< ps to take in order to guarantee his success. He 
Stayed by, nursed and carefully attended to his business. He did 
not trust its success to idlesome and irresponsible clerks and assis- 
tants, but he looked after his own success. The result of his 



BEACON LI OUTS OF THE RACE 4A3 

changed policy was that he succeeded from the very beginning of 
this last business venture Compared with his previous experiences 

he flourished like two green hay trees. In a reasonable period of 
time he had by the application of business principles accumulated the 
princely sum of fourteen hundred dollars ($1,400), including a 
horse and buggy. He was thus safe on the high road to prosperity, 
and it is probable that he would long ere this time have been clash- 
ing business arms with the commercial kings on Front street if he 
had continued in the grocery business. But it was not the flat of 
fate that Mr. Hayes was to continue in the grocery husiness in 
which he was just beginning to taste the first fruits of his success, 
but he was destined to enter a business in which he was to make 
a name and a fame that would be heard around the world. 

He Finds His True Calling at Last. 

It was purely an accident that caused Mr. Hayes to enter the 
undertaking business. It was not the result of any meditation or 
planning. Four days before entering the undertaking business 
he had not the faintest idea of such a business venture. Because 
of the fact that one of the local undertakers had died and because 
of the fact that Mr. Hayes had a large barn in connection with his 
grocery husiness. he was invited by a friend to associate himself 
with this friend in the undertaking business. Quickly thinking 
over the matter, he accepted, took firm hold of the reins of authority 
and made his first funeral engagement May 20th, 1902. He had 
had no experience in the undertaking husiness. and he was as ill 
prepared for success in it as he had been in the barber business 
when he first resorted to it as a means for procuring an education. 
He had not the simplest knowledge of how to manipulate the 
bodies of the dead, and he was the greenest man that ever was 
initiated into the mysteries of the undertaking business. However, 
lie had confidence in himself, and he only wanted time to show his 
capabilities. He buckled down to hard and systematic study of 
every phase of the new business, and gradually became conversant 
with every detail of it. He made a special study of human anatomy 
and the science of embalming, and in the course of a short time 
his knowledge of these branches was so thorough as to cause him 
to measure up to the highest requirements of the profession. He 
but he began to originate husiness methods, and strove to develop 
and expand the business. It has ever been the principle of Mr. 
Hayes to have the very best or nothing, and his firm has lived up 
to its motto. From a business of insignificant proportions he has 
built up a business of such great magnitude as cannot be surpassed. 
if even duplicated, among the undertakers of the United States, 
not only became an expert in the general details of the husiness, 



444 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

One of the Leading Undertakers of the Country. 

Impartial commercial travelers, who have visited undertaking 
establishments all over the United States, pronounce the undertak- 
ing firm of -Mr. Hayes as the most substantial and complete of its 
kind in the whole country. His equipment is as costly and elegant 
as the most extravagant wishes of his patrons can possibly demand. 
He has five hearses of the finest and most pretentious make, one 
ambulance, two dead wagons, one coach tor pall bearers, four bug- 
gies and twelve horses. His funeral establishment is complete in 
every respect. He has a commodious chapel room for holding ser- 
vices over the dead. He has a morgue, stock room for caskets of 
all kinds from the humblest to the costliest, and a room for every 
variety of robes and linings. He keeps in stock metallic caskets, 
which cost up to $800. He has an unusually large stock of funeral 
paraphernalia of all kinds. Because of the fact that he is able to 
purchase his goods in carload lots he is thus able to command for 
his patrons a lower cost price than usual. He enjoys a monopoly 
of the local patronage of some of the leading wholesale dealers of 
the United States, and is thus able to get the benefit of prices that 
would otherwise be impossible if his patronage were not such a 
desirable acquisition to the dealers in question. The great secret 
of business success is in the ability to purchase at a close margin, 
and this has been one of the fortunate circumstances in connection 
with the undertaking establishment of Mr. Hayes. The volume of 
his business is immense, ami the excellence of its service is on a 
parity with the size of the business. If any bereaved one desires 
to bestow as a testimonial of love the finest funeral that his financial 
circumstances will allow. Mr. Hayes has the equipment. On the 
contrary, if the poorest person in the community desires to put away 
in decency and for the least cost his dear one. the answer still may 
be that Mr. Hayes has the equipment. Thus is it the case that he 
is the refuge of the rich and the poor, and can give complete satis- 
faction in either instance. 

A Leader in the World of Finance and Business. 
In the year of 1902 Mr. Haves began in the undertaking business 
with a capital of $1,400. So extraordinary has been his success in 
the undertaking business that he has increased his original capital 
thirty or forty-fold. He has climbed the ladder of financial success 
more rapidly than any other colored man in the history of tie- 
proud city of Memphis. From a man that was comparatively a 
poor man in the year of 1902 he has in a strictly legitimate way 
become one of the wealthiest colored men in the city of Memphis. 
He is now one of the leaders in the world of business and finance, 
and thousands are only too glad to do him honor because of the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 445 

fact that lie was not born with any silver spoon in his mouth, ami 
came from the very ground on up to his present exalted position 
of wealth and responsibility. It is not a matter of remote tradition 
that Mr. Hayes was once a very poor man, tor that day was so 
recent that most of the grown-up citizens of the present day can 
easily recollect the time. 

He is a stockholder of the Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance 
Company ; he is First Vice-President of the Solvent Savings Bank 
& Trust Company of Memphis, Tenn., the pioneer banking institu- 
tion of the race in the city of Memphis. He is a stockholder in the 
Standard Life Insurance Company of Atlanta. Georgia, an insur- 
ance company that is being promoted by Negro brains and capital, 
and which seems destined to play a very important part in the 
affairs of the race. He is a stockholder in the Blocker Coal Com- 
pany of Oklahoma. He also owns stock in a valuable copper mine 
in Arizona. He is a life member of the National Negro Business 
League. 

A Large Property Owner. 

Not onlv has Mr. Haves these large and varied interests in con- 
nection with his undertaking business, each of which he has endeav- 
ored to develop, but he has some of the most extensive and most 
valuable realty in the city of Memphis. His home residence, in 
which is also located his business establishment, is a massive, com- 
modious, substantial two-story brick building that covers the entire 
space from Poplar avenue to the alley in the rear. This splendid 
building is situated in the heart of the business center of the city 
of Memphis, and is estimated to be worth not less than $30,000. 
The lower floor of this vast building and the extreme rear are 
devoted to the use of his undertaking establishment, while the 
upper floor contains a suite of rooms elegantly fitted up for living 
apartments. His home has every convenience that either neeessitv 
or luxury can demand, and everything is in harmony with the 
circumstances of the owner. In addition to his superb and palatial 
home residence, in connection with his business establishment he 
has valuable property all over the city of Memphis. He has houses 
and lots in Klondike. Orange Mound. New Chicago, Middle Mem- 
phis and East Memphis. 

Does Not Wear a Padlock on His Purse. 

His bad luck seemed to change as soon as he had entered the 
undertaking business. He has not only thrived in the undertaking 
business, but he has been successful in almost every other business 
venture with which he has been connected. He seems to have found 
the philosopher's stone of olden times, that mysterious and occult 



446 BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

substance that could transmute everything into sold. In his various 
investments he has been more wise than lucky, and his success 
has been more a matter of business judgment than mere blind luck.. 
He has at all times desired to do exactly what is right and honor- 
able, and to merit the confidence and esteem of all the people. He 
is a min of great sympathy, and there is no cause affecting the 
welfare of humanity that does not have some kind of a claim upon 
him. He does not wear a padlock on his purse. If he has any 
fault in that direction at all it is his extreme liberality, which 
would in some cases had to his being imposed upon. There can be 
no doubt that .Mr. Hayes is one of the most liberal-hearted nun in 
the city of Memphis. He does not give just for public show, but 
he gives because it is his very nature to give and help the cause of 
humanity. In all of his prosperity he has never tried to get away 
from his race. The more that he has prospered the more he has 
been able to sympathize with those who are less fortunate than 
himself. He has never forgotten the dark days of his own business 
life, and for that very reason he has ever felt close in sympathy 
to tli'' poor and struggling. There is no real worthy charity to 
which he will not contribute, and this trait of his character has 
caused him to do more for the cause of charity than any other 
colored man in the city of Memphis. 

\ ever \ Quitter Because of Failure. 

The race is sadly in need of a host of men of the character of 
Mr. Hayes. It needs men of greater race sympathy and race love. 
It needs men that are not so easily discouraged by repeated fail- 
ures, hut who. on the contrary, will lie but the more determined with 
each successive failure to take a new buckle in their belt and begin 
anew the struggle for success. The race has too many quitters 
in the battle of life, too many that are bowled over in the tirst 
round of disappointment. The ship of lite carries such a valu- 
able cargo of possibilities that no one should give up the struggle 
without fighting until she sinks. Four times did Mr. Hayes take 
the count of failure in business, but each time he came up sMiiling 
for more. He is a man of such an optimistic temperament that 
does not believe in utter defeat if a man wills otherwise; conse- 
quently, discouragemi nts that would overwhelm others .ire but 
greater incentives tor continued effort 

Ax [deal Fraternity Member. 

It is almost superfluous to state that Mr. Haves is a member 
in good standing with all of the various fraternities. The bewhisk- 
ered and bellig( rent goat that is supposed to get ready for business 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 147 

whenever some poor trembling soul is to be inducted into the mys- 
teries of the order has no terrors for him. Mr. Haves has an ideal 
temperament for a fraternity man. for he is naturally endowed 
with an abundance of human sympathy, which not even the sacred 
pledges of the lodge room can make possible. He not only has a 
full conception of a moral obligation in both business and fraternity 
life, but he feels morally obligated by the common ties of humanity 
to do all in his power for the welfare and uplift of the human race, 
and especially that part of it of which he is an honored member. 
Xo man will ever lose a dollar because of any business transaction 
with Mr. Hayes, for his conscience is always alert to that which 
is right and iust affecting the interests of others, as well as his 
own. In his business relations with his patrons it has ever been 
his policy to give to them complete satisfaction, even though the 
result in some cases should be attended with loss to himself. 

A Liberal Church Max. 

Mr. Hayes is a substantial member of St. John Baptist Church, 
and a very strong pillar of that well-known religious structure. 
It is supposed that if he had not been such a good Baptist that 
many of the blessings that have been his to enjoy would have been 
denied him. He believes in practical as well as revealed religion. 
He believes in the principles of the golden rule, and has made 
them the guiding star of his whole life. There is nothing narrow- 
in his religious activities, and his purse is opened as readily to 
the churches of other denominations as it is to his own. He is cos- 
mopolitan in his religious sympathies, and thus can accomplish far 
greater good in a practical way than if he were a hide-bound zealot. 

His Estimable Wife axd Domestic Qieex. 

On the 31st of March, 1898, when the worthy subject of this 
sketch was making a heroic struggle to keep his head above the 
financial waves that had for a long time beaten with relentless 
fury around him. it was hi-, good fortune to summon to his rescue the 
assistance, loyalty and devotion of the dear woman who has since 
that happy day borne his worthy name. She has ministered to his 
necessities both in sickness and in health, and she has been eon- 
tented to share with her husband both his sorrows and his joys. 
She was a Miss Florence Taylor of Covington. Tenn., and kind 
fortune has blessed her with many of the finalities of heart and 
mind that make her the reigning queen of her elegant home. Sin- 
began to counsel with her husband when he was a struggling mer- 
chant, and her timely encouragement and assistance did wonders t" 
inspire him and make him the optimistic and successful business 



448 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




MRS THOMAS H. MAYES VND CHILDREN 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 149 

man that he is today. The success of nearly every man has largely 
been due to the inspiration and devotion of some dear wife <>r some 
sainted mother, and the successful life of Mr. Hayes is no excep- 
tion to the genera] rule. The married life of Mr. and Mrs. Hayes 
has been cemented and brightened by the 1<>\ ing presence of two 
comely and precocious boys, who will as soon as possible be 
admitted to partnership in their father's business, and be given a 
chance to demonstrate the character of the material of which they 
are made. Figuratively speaking, the two lads in question were 
lorn to the purple, and came to these mundane shores with a choice 
assortment of silver and golden spoons in their mouths, but as sure 
as fate these two lads will be trained for work and disciplined 
in the severe school of service and usefulness to their fellowmen. 
( ertainly they will not be permitted and encouraged to fritter away 
their golden moments in aimless and easy living. Mr. Hayes is 
•well acquainted with the fact that wealth has its disadvantages as 
Mill as its advantages, and he is determined that his children will 
use his means in a manner that will redound to the benefit and 
uplift of the world. 

Ax Extensive Traveler. 

The subject has been an extensive traveler, and there is hardly 
. section of the United States that he has not visited. Wherever 
he has traveled he has kept his eyes wide open, and lie has purposely 
si aled up in the caskets of his memory everything of value to him 
or to his interests. Wherever he has been able to gain a single 
idea that would advance his business interests he has been happy 
to avail himself of the same. He has the very laudable ambition to 
attain the zenith of success in the undertaking business. In his 
particular business he would aspire to be a modern Alexander the 
(treat, and if he fails in his great ambition it will be a failure of 
the head and not of the heart. 

Doks Not Diskhvk One Enemy. 

The subject is a man that attends strictly to his own busin< SS, 
and he takes no part whatsoever in those unfortunate factional dif- 
ferences that tend to divide and imperil the interests of the race. 
He believes in peace and race unity, and he not only preaches this 
doctrine, but he practices it wherever he goes. In all factional 
strife and turbulent agitations he is conspicuous by his absence. 
He is not a plumed knight, ready to lead the cohorts of any faction 
to victory at the expense of some other faction. He has no enemies 
on whose heads he is at all anxious to pour coals of fire, and it is 



450 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

doubtful if he lias of his own voluntary making a single enemy 
in the whole world. Prompted by the spirit of true charity alone. 
Mr. Hayes gives freely, but the bread that he casts on the water 

is always brought hack to him. His prosperity in the short period 
of less than a decade has been nearly unprecedented in the business 
records of the race. It sounds more like a story culled from the 
pages of the Arabian Nights. 

His Success Has Been Marvelous. 

The success of Mr. Hayes has been marvelous. The fact is. his 
wonderful business success has been a standing sensation for sev- 
eral years, and many people have expressed their inability to account 
for the phenomenal results that he has wrought in the business 
world. In the opinion of the writer the great success of Mr. Hayes 
lias been due to the personality of the man. Very few nun would 
have been as persistent as he was for years, in spite of the many 
failures that befell him. He is a lovable man. a persistent man. a 
considerate man and a perfectly honest and honorable man. He 
believes in the possibilities of the Negro race if it be true to the 
principles of virtue, honor and love. Few people, if indeed any. 
envy Mr. Hayes the possession of his princely fortune, but on the 
contrary, a host of admirers and friends would prefer to assist 
him to scale higher and higher on the ladder of success. He well 
deserves all the success which the faithful and unremitting service 
of vears has brought to him, and he will continue to be in the 
future, as he has been in the past, the most popular and the most 
lovable man in Memphis. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



451 



W. A. Ray field, U.S., Birmingham, Ala. 



Bachelor of Architecture, General Supervising Ahchitect. 




T HAS often been declared by many critics of the Negro 
race that its members lack the patience, perseverance and 

determined persistence that members of the dominant race 
possess in their pursuit of knowledge of the fine arts. 
It is a common experience of thousands of students of the white 
race to quit their homes, visit foreign lands and bury themselves 
in faithful and unremitting study of the fine arts for many years. 
While this statement is true, yet the true art spirit is the birthright 
of no particular race, and it struggles to manifest itself among all 




I J''iiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiimii( 

fOVA'DER. 
OF 7Vf£ F//ZM 

WARAYFIELD SvCO., ARCHITECTS 

/U»M/.VGHA>1. AUK. 



peoples, all climates and all soils. Genius is heaven horn and 
dwells in the lowly hut of the peasant as readily as in the palace of 
the rich. 

Of all the fine arts the one that most conserves the pleasure and 
welfare of human society is the art of architecture. Necessarily 
it is one of the most ancient of all arts, and was co existent with 
the life of man. The planning of the roof over one's head is of 
first importance in the scale of human necessity, and that man who 



452 BEACOS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

is the exponent of this ancient art is not only of primary importance 
to the welfare and happiness of his fellows, but he may be con- 
sidered in the light of a benefactor to the human race. 

Nativity. 

Mr. W. A. Rayfield, the architect, is a native son of the State 
of Georgia, and was born in Macon, Ga., May 10, 1873. He 
was fortunate in having had parents that were intelligent, and who 

had some idea of the value and importance of education. His 
sainted mother had attended Atlanta University, and had the honor 
of being an early classmate of Prof. Scarborough, the eminent 
scholar and president of Wilherforce University. 

His Early Education. 

Having been horn in the city of Macon. Ga., the early education 
of the subject was received in the public schools of that city. He 
attended tile old Lewis Intermediate and High School, after which 
in accordance with his mother's consent he was put under the per- 
sonal care and instruction of Miss Lucy (>. I. amy. then as now. 
one of the most noted educators of the Negro race in this country. 
For seven years his education and protection were intrusted to this 
gifted woman and famous educator, and the influence of this noble 
woman in the molding and development of the subject's character 
made an indelible impression on his life. 

( )ff to College. 

Whin tin subject was in his sixteenth year he quit the scenes 
of the Southland and went to Washington to complete his literary 
education. He entered the preparatory department of Howard 
University and remained a student of that institution of learning 
tor seven long years, receiving his diploma of graduation from the 
classical department with the decree of Bachelor of Science in 1896. 

A \ E \ni.v Stimulus to Aim. 
While tin subject was a pupil in the intermediate department of 

the Lewis School of Macon. Ga., he took special interest in map 

drawing, and because of excellence in that art he received a prize 
from the school authorities. This tirst prize was no doubt an incen- 
tive tor him to persevere along thoS< lines, and it is more than 
probable that his subsequent career as a greal architect had its 
impetus in the insignificant prize that rewarded Ins efforts when 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 153 

he was a small boy way down in the elementary schools of his 
native State. 

The Love for Art Grew. 

In spite of the severe character of the literary work that was done 

by the student at Howard I Diversity, his inclination tor the study 
of art continued the predominating ambition of his lite. It was a 

serious problem with the subject how he would ever he able to 
realize the earnest desire of his life. At this psychological moment 
in his lite it was his good fortune to meet a friend. Miss I). I.. 
Mussey. who came to his rescue and put him on the road to the 
happy goal of his life. She was a tine artist, and kindly volunteered 
her assistance to him at her home on Saturdays, a proffer of kind- 
ness which he gladly accepted and availed himself of for two years. 
The worthy father of this kind young woman was a prominent law- 
yer, and he was the attorney for the well-known firm of architects. 
A. B. Mullett & Company, of Washington, I). C. Through the 
kindly intercession of Lawyer Mussey. the subject was admitted 
to the office of this famous firm of architects, remained with it for 
two years, and received that practical experience in architectural 
work that would have been impossible elsewhere. 

A Graduate of Pratt Polytechnic [nstitute. 

The same year of his graduation from Howard University he 

quit the nation's capital and went to Brooklyn. \. Y.. to study in 
the Department of Architecture of Pratt Polytechnic Institute. 
He remained a student of Pratt Institute for two years, studied dili- 
gently and received his certificate of graduation in 1 898. 

A Graduate of Columbia University. 

Still not satisfied with his preparation for his life work, when 
he received his certificate of graduation from Pratt Polytechnic 
Institute, he entered the Department of Architecture of Columbia 
University, New York City. He studied in that splendid school for 
one year, completed the course of instruction and received from that 
institution the degree of Bachelor of Architecture in the year of 
1899- 

A Chance Visit or Dr. Washington. 

While the subject wis a student of Columbia University, Dr. P. 
T. Washington, the eminent educator of Tuskegee, Ala., visited the 
university, became acquainted with him and made him a proposition 
for his services as a teacher at Tuskeeee Normal and Industrial 



454 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Institute, the service to begin as soon as the subject had graduated 
from the university. The subject accepted the proposition. 

A Teacher at Tuskegee. 

In the autumn of 1899 the subject went to Tuskegee as teacher 
of mechanical and architectural drawing. He served in that capacity 
for nearly a decade, and brought the department with which lie was 
connected from the experimental stage up to one of the most com- 
plete in the country. He was faithful to his trust while connected 
with the school, and might have remained indefinitely in that posi- 
tion if his eyes had not been opened to greater financial opportuni- 
ties in other lines of business. 

An Architect ix Birmingham. 

Though a faithful teacher at Tuskegee Institute, he saw no 
financial future for him should he continue to remain in the pro- 
fession of teaching, so he resolved to abandon the teachers' pro- 
fession and enter the arena of business life on his own responsi- 
bility in the city of Birmingham. Ala. He moved to the city of 
Birmingham and brought with him the best of testimonials from 
Dr. Washington certifying to the subject's ability. The very day 
on which he began business for himself he was fortunate enough 
to get a forty-dollar job. Since locating in the city of Birmingham 
the success of the subject has been phenomenal. He has worked 
up his success in such an intelligent, business-like manner that an 
architect is now gladly employed by those who formerly thought 
an architect not necessary. 

Official Architect of the /ion A. M. E. Church. 

The subject has the honor of being the official architect of the 
A. M. E. /ion Church, and as such he docs all of the connectional 
work of this branch of the Christian Church. It is only just to 
the subject to state that the great honor that he has was won by 
actual competition with some of the leading architects of this coun- 
try, two of the competitors being members of the subject's own 
race and three competitors being members of the white race. As 
official architect for this church he was elected tor four years and 
he is subject to the denomination for the plans of' all of its churches 
to be erected ill all sections of' the country during the term of his 
office. 

Supervising Architect Freedmen's Aid Society. 

Not only is the subject officially connected as architect with the 
A. M. E. /ion Churchj hut he is also the General Supervising 
Architect of the Freedmen's Aid Society. This societVi whose head- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



455 



quarters arc in Cincinnati, has twenty-six schools under its super- 
vision. 

Look AT I lis CREATIONS. 

While the subject has first-class, all round ability as an architect, 

yet he makes a specialty of churches and schools. He has been 
the supervising architect in the erection of some of the finest 
churches and school houses in the State of Alabama and elsewhere. 
He Mas the supervising architect in the erection of the following 
buildings: 



r SIXTH • AVE- BAPTIST i 
t Church + 




SIXTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH 



The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church of Birmingham, Ala., cost- 
ing $50,000; the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church of Birmingham, 
costing >':!.").(•()(); Dr. A. M. Brown's residence, costing $10,000, and 
Dr. W. R. Pettiford s elegant home. Also, he has been employed 
by many of the wealthiest men of the city for the purpose of beau- 
tifying the city. 

A Good Business Max. 

The subject's office is located in the Mason building. Birming- 
ham, Ala., and is equipped with every necessary instrument for the 
expeditious execution of every contract. His business has grad- 
ually been built up greatly in the estimation of tin people, and 
it is now the wisdom of the most intelligent people of the Negro 
race to have trained and skillful architects to pri pare plans for the 
erection of their homes. 



456 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



Met His Future Wife at Tuskegee. 

Id the vear of 1901, while the subject was a teacher at Tuskegee 

Normal Institute he first saw his fate in the person of his Loving 
and faithful wife, who at that time was a student at Tuskegee. 
She was a Miss Jennie Hutchins of Clarksville, Tenn., and a <;rad- 
uate of the industrial department of Tuskegee. The subject cut 

short her student life, carried her to the altar and elevated her as 






i— - ', ■' 




'Pfoz^ 



.' JA:lT-l AACTtST CHURCH 4T 
•SWITHritLO- BIRMINGHAM ( r 
WA AAYflCLD ICO- 



TRINITY BAPTIST CHURCH 

hiffh as it is possible for a true and devoted woman to till, that of 
Queen of the Home. 'Idie subject was fortunate in his selection of a 

life partner, for she is one of the truest and most devoted wives 

that ever lived. 

Hi on Class Man. 

Mr. Rayfield is one of the high class architects f the race, and 
is worthy of being patronized by the lust people of either race. He 

is one of the hest educated in. 11 in the ranks of the race, and it is 

quite an honor to the city of Birmingham thai it should have living 

in its corporate limits possibly the hest Negro architect in the 
United States. He is the quintessence of modesty and affability, 
and enjoys the distinction of being one of the most popular men 

and one of th; most eminent Negro architects of the South. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



457 




j 
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as 

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C/3 



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03 



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458 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

A. E. CloustoUj Memphis, Tom. 

Capitalist and Farmer. 

HE problem of how to make money and what to do with 
it after it has been made is one of the most serious prob- 
lems that confronts the ambitious man. and fortunate is 
that man who has the genius of making money and wisely 
administering the same for his persona] comfort and the happiness 
■ if the loved ones that are dependent upon him. There is presented 
to the reading public the life story of a member of the Negro race 
whose prudence and success in the management of large financial 
interests an 1 a revelation not only to his personal friends and 
admirers^ but to the business world at large. 

Borx ix Memphis. 

Mr. A. E. Clouston. the worthy subject of this sketch, is a 
native of Memphis, and was born June 11. 186'6\ He has resided 
in the city of Memphis all of his life, and the Bluff City is entitled 
to all credit for the subject's splendid success in the race of life. 

Educated ix the Bluff City. 

Having been born in the city of Memphis, the subject had tin- 
privilege of attending the city schools of Memphis. He also 
attended I.eMoyne Normal Institute of the same city, and com- 
pleted his literary training in that splendid educational institution 
for the race. 

Worked Hard to Succeed. 

The subject worked hard to succeed in life, and it is probable 
that few young men ever roughed it more than he to make a way 
for himself and provide the necessaries for his family. But a great 
tort unc is now his own. and he is not compelled to work, toil and 
struggle as he did in the davs of yore. 



*&B J 



A Capable Business Max. 

The subject is a most capable business man. and each succeeding 
year has witnessed a substantial addition to his vast realty posses- 
sions. He is a financial Star of tht first magnitude, and his business 
judgment is considered good .and valued highly in the channels of 
commerce. 

His I'm \ti \i. 1 [oME. 

The subject of this sketch is the owner of an unusual home. It 
Ts ,i magnificenl two-Story stone building, that is worth a fortune 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



459 




MR. AND MRS. A. E. CLdl'STON 



460 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACK 

of anybody's money. It is the first solid stone residence belonging 
to the race in the city of Memphis, and emphasizes in a concrete 
way that the race is rising in this beautiful and sunny Southland. 

One of the Wealthiest Men of the South. 

The personal fortune of the subject is one of the largest in the 
South. It consists of a vast amount of real estate, both in the 
city of Memphis and in Shelby County. Tenn. It is unnecessary 
to particularize, but the subject ranks among- the three richest 
colored men of the city of Memphis. It is largely a matter of pure 
speculation as to what Mr. Houston is really worth, and it is very 
doubtful if he can give an accurate estimate himself. From the 
writer's knowledge of land values in the city of Memphis, Mr. 
Houston's fortune, when reduced to dollars and cents, is of colossal 
proportions, and ought to approximate a quarter of a million or 
more dollars. 

Has Every Necessary Comfort of Life. 

For a man to get the most out of life it is not necessary that he 
should contract the habit for the luxuries of life, for most people 
are satisfied to live on the necessaries of life. The subject rais.-. 
on his truck farm everything that can lie grown for the comfort 
.ind happiness of his family. His home place is situated on the 
grand municipal driveway, just outside of the city limits, and con- 
tains [2.3] acres of land that is fabulous in its value. The subject 
indulges himself in just one luxury, viz.. the finest and fastest 
horses that he can buy. 

His Dear Wife. 

Mr. Houston is the owner of one of the greatest fortunes in this 
country, on the basis of dollars and cents, but his greatest lite 
treasure is his faithful and devoted wife. August 25, l!>H!>. the 
subject was united in marriage to Miss Ida Fox ot Memphis, I 
young woman of splendid parts and good social standing. She has 
proved herself to lie a splendid wife and companion, and worthy 
of every consideration that can In- bestowed upon her by her 
appreciative and loving husband. 

A Strong, Sensible Man. 

The subject lias an unusual endowment ot' hard and practical 
common sense. He is the same kindly disposed and affable man 
that he ever was. nor has his great wealth caused his hat band to 
expand. He is the same congenial and well meaning man that he 
always was. He i-> a successful man because he deserves to suc- 
ceed, and he will continue to succeed if the earnest wishes of his 
manv friends have anv influence with the goddess ot' fortune. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



461 




as 






_ 



462 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



William E. Benson, A.B., Kowaliga, Ala. 



Promoter. 



_ j -Til EARS ago the writer read the trite saying that "tin-re is 

]Ka) nothing new under the sun." and it is probable that he 

""j^— : would have gone on for an indefinite period of time 

laboring under such an erroneous idea if he had not, 

perchance, made a visit to Kowaliga, Elmore County. Alabama. 
Now, to those unfortunate persons that do not know it will be per- 
fectly natural to ask. what is Kowaliga. and where is it? What 
is the origin of its name? 

A Riral Paradise ix the Pine Lands of Alabama. 

In answer to the first question it may be said that Kowaliga is 
a community of interests, rather than a collection of buildings. 
With the exception of the industrial village of Benson, which forms 
only a small part, the extensive Kowaliga community measures up 
neither to the dignity of a town nor a village, but it is a picturesque 
rural paradise in the hilly pine lands of Alabama, inhabited mostly 
by thrifty and energetic colored people that are trying to work 
out a serious economic problem in their rustic life. Kowaliga 
stands more for sentiment than for population, and it is solving in 
a unique and practical way one of the most vital problems of the 
Southland. A town center is soon to be laid out. where five hun- 
dred families can buy lots, half way between the school and tin" 
industrial settlement .at Benson. The former will afford their chil- 
dren unexcelled opportunities for education, and the latter will 
furnish the grown-up people a chance for earning a good livelihood 
therein by working at the industries or on the farms. 

Forty Miles North of Montgomery. 

In answer to the second question, Kowaliga is situated about 
forty miles north of Montgomery. Ala., and sixteen miles from the 
nearest railroad. It is in the heart of a great agricultural dis 
trict that teems with members of the colored race, and it is soon to 
have a railroad, though it is now accessible only by winding moun- 
tain roads that pass through sylvan groves and leafy dales, and In- 
rushing brooklets and sparkling springs. It is a veritable Garden 
ot the Gods, and such a country as would excite the poetic instincts 
of any man. 

A Strange Name is Kowaliga. 

The name of Kowaliga is calculated to hrin<r consternation into 
the camps of tin- etymologists, but it is of Indian origin. It sounds 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



*63 




W E. BENSON 



464 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

a little sacrilegious to hitch the name of the irrt-.it prophet of old. 
Elijah, as a vermiform appendix to a milk-giving bovine. Xot- 
withstanding the eccentric peculiarities of its name, Kowaliga is 

on the map to stay, and under the vigorous administration of the 
master mind that holds in its keeping the destiny of this settle- 
ment, the world will, from time to time, know a great deal more 
about that community of latent possibilities, of which Kowaliga 
is the center. 

The Kowaliga S< hool is the Center of Influence. 

First of all. Kowaliga represents a unique idea, and all the 
industrial activities that are connected with that settlement have 
in view the social, religious and economic development of the col- 
ored race in that particular section of the country. In order that 
the Kowaliga idea might find its fullest fruition, it was necessary 
to provide such schools and industrial enterprises as could be made 
to fit into the lives of the people whose interests were to be sub- 
served. The center whence radiate the most wholesome ir.Huenees 
which affect the life of the community is the Kowaliga School. It 
is not a trade school in the sense of Tuskegee Institute. Hampton 
Institute and many other luminaries in the educational firmament of 
the race, but the distinctive idea in the establishment of the 
Kowaliga School is to meet the educational needs of the school 
community of which the school is the center. Primarily, its aim 
is neither to prepare skilled artisan- nor highly educated leaders, 
but to tit the great majority of its students for the life which they 
are to lead in their home community: to establish an educational. 
religious and industrial center within immediate reach oi' the hun- 
dreds of boys and girls who will never have access to any other 
institution of learning, and to encourage and assist the ambitious 
but precious few that show the ability to gain .additional training 
i Isewhere. 

Began in \ Cabin S( iiooi-hoise. 

The Kowaliga School was organized in 1896 and incorporated 
in 1899. It began its career in a cabin schoolhouse. with one 
teacher, and in tin short period of a decade it has grown into an 
institution of considerable proportions and wide influence. It now 
has a faculty of twelve teachers, graduates from some of the leading 

institutions of learning in the land, and an enrollment of' S2o 
students in its main school for the \ ear just closed. lour com- 
modious and substantial buildings and several small ones, which 
were recently burned, are being rebuill at a cost of twenty thousand 
dollars, and other buildings are in contemplation which will run 




c~ 
£ ° 



o 

ac 
■a 
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gi 

J 

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466 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

the valuation of the school plant alone to the sum of fifty thousand 
dollars. 

An Ideal Site for a School. 

The site of Kowaliga School is ideal and commands a scenic 
view that can hardly he surpassed on the American continent. 
From the crest of the rolling surface that forms the site of the 
school may he seen nature in all of her exuberance and infinite 
variety. Diversified hills and dales, tall pines and grand oaks, 
rocks, rivulets, all in one mad riot of scenic splendor, forming a 
panorama that is delightful to behold. 

Expense of Maintaining the School. 

The annual cost of maintaining the school is less than $7,000, 
the greater part of which is met by voluntary contributions from 
philanthropic people. The school has no endowment of conse- 
quence, and therefore must necessarily depend upon the generosity 
and liberality of the friends of the colored race. The founder and 
director, William E. Benson, is deeply grateful to his friends of 
both races. North and South, who have contributed to the cause 
which means so much to the people of the Kowaliga community. 
There is no contribution that is too small to receive its grateful 
acceptance. The Kowaliga School has not only sent a dozen or 
more of its representatives to Tuskegee, Hampton, Talladega Col- 
lege and other schools of a denominational character, but it has 
directly influenced for good the lives of hundreds of its former 
students, whose opportunities were restricted by circumstances to 
the narrow limits of the community where they were born and 
reared, and where necessarily they must continue to live. 

Two Wheels Revolving. 

The benefit of such an institution in a community can not be 
estimated, and when supplemented by its sister enterprise, the 
Dixie Industrial Company, which has for its object the furnishing 
of lucrative employment, they form a powerful influence, which 
proves a wholesome incentive to keep the young people of the race 
from drifting to the great urban centers of population by making 
country life remunerative as well as attractive. 

The Region's Climate. 

The climate of the region around Kowaliga is salubrious, and the 
air is entirely free from malarial conditions. The air is Light and 
invigorating, and such as can be found only in regions of similar 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 467 

altitude above the level of the sea. The climate is verv favorable 
to health seekers and is a veritable paradise for those in need of 
general recreation and relaxation. 



Ax Effective Corps of Teach 



eks. 



It was the pleasure of the writer to meet some of the teachers 
that constitute a part of the faculty of Kowaliga School, to whose 
faithfulness and loyalty Mr. Benson accredits his entire success, 
and the writer was deeply impressed, both with their ability and 
the interest that they manifested in their work. 

J. J. Benson. 

Mr. William E. Benson, the promoter of all the efforts that have 
for their object the uplift of the colored people of Kowaliga, is 
the son of J. J. Benson, one of the pioneer settlers of Kowaliga, 
and one of the most energetic, most progressive and most wealthy 
members of the race in the Southland. The father, though born 
a slave, is a man of great foresight and thrift, and had the sagacity 
to look forty years into the dim and uncertain future of the race 
and make his material status stable for all future years. He bought 
his first farm of 160 acres in the year of 1869, and by successive 
purchases he increased his landed possessions to more than three 
thousand acres of productive land, a large part of which, from time 
to time, he has sold. The father is an all-round genius, and is 
equally at home as a mechanic, engineer or farmer. Early the 
father trained his son to travel in the father's footsteps, and to 
become the skillful, all-round workman that the father himself is. 

The Son a Native of Kowaliga. 

Mr. William E. Benson, the son, was born amidst the scenic 
beauty of Kowaliga. and excepting his college days, has lived in 
Kowaliga all his life. His early educational training was received 
in the local cabin school, where he applied himself until he went 
oft' to school at \asli\ille. Tenn.. for a preparatory course, and 
thence to college. As a youth the subject spent his time in active 
work with his father, and today it is just as natural for him to 
work as it is for the sparks to fly upward. Owing to the fact that 
the father was a practical mechanic and engineer, the son at the 
age of seven years was put to the task of minding the engine, and 
so rapidly did his mechanical ingenuity develop that he had con- 
structed a threshing machine, the exact model of his father's big 
machine, by the time he had attained to the age of ten years. H av- 



468 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




|. J. B] NS< IN 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 469 

ing begun so early in mechanical work, he soon became highly pro- 
ficient in tin- knowledge of machinery and engineering, and he is 
today one of the best .-ill round mechanical geniuses in the land. 
He is of .-in inventive turn of mind, and lias recently patented two 
inventions, one of which is a combination trunk that is invaluable 
for commercial purposes when traveling. 

A Studious Boy. 

When the subject was a boy he was very studious and very ambi- 
tious to excel in his school books, and whenever he went through 
the country with Ins father's threshing machine, assisting him as 
engineer, the subject carried his books and diligently studied them 
during his leisure moments. He was one of the brightest scholars 
of the old Kowaliga District School, and was put on exhibition on 
all public occasions when it was necessary to show off the accom- 
plishments of the school. It was on one of those occasions ol 
the closing exhibitions that the brilliant future of the precocious 
youth was perceived and made possible. 

Off to College. 

Rev. H. C. Bedford, a white friend from the North, was attracted 
by the intelligence of young Benson, and prevailed upon his father 
to send the youth off to school. Acting in accordance with this 
timely suggestion, the father did send the son off to college at 
Nashville, Tenn., in which he was able to make the middle pre- 
paratory class. He remained at bisk University until he had com- 
pleted the preparatory work, when he matriculated at Howard 
University. Washington, D. C, from which institute he graduated 
in 1895 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. While at college 
he added to his practical knowledge of machinery and industrial 
work that thorough training and discipline which only a classical 
education can give and thus made himself a far more proficient 
man than he would have otherwise been. 

Educated to Work. 

If the object of education is to prepare for the duties and respon- 
sibilities of life, the subject of this sketch is a happy illustration 
of this fact. With him education has ever had a specific purpose, 
and that purpose should be to prepare man for that particular 
life that he is to live and to enable him to serve in that capacity 
with the greatest degree of efficiency. During his whole college 
career of six long years he ever had ill mind the work tor which 
be was preparing himself, and to whose success he had dedicated 



470 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

the energies of his life. So. as soon as he had received his diploma 
of graduation from Howard University he immediately returned 
home to begin the formation and assume the active management of 
the great industrial plant which he had conceived. All of the 
stupendous achievements of the Kowaliga School and the organi- 
zation of the Dixie Industrial Company have centered around Mr. 
Benson, and in the whole enterprise he has shown an originality 
of mind and a power of execution that can hardly find a parallel 
in the industrial and economic development of the colored race. 

The Dixie Industrial Company. 

The original Kowaliga School was one and but one unit in his 
scheme for the development of the race. He thought that in addi- 
tion to an education the boys and girls should be given some oppor- 
tunity to put their training into practical use. He therefore planned 
an industrial enterprise that would go far in advance of the school 
and develop the natural resources of the community, and prepare 
the finished products for the marts of trade. With this great object 
in view he organized the Dixie Industrial Company in the year of 
1900. It is incorporated under the laws of the State of Alabama, 
and now has a paid-up capital of $100,000 and a small surplus. 
The company owns ten thousand (10.000) acres of splendid farm 
and timber lands. It operates a sawmill as complete as can be 
found in the South. The machinery of the industrial plant is of 
the most recent make, and was purchased for efficiency regardless 
of cost. The sawmill is a complete wood working plant, and was 
built at a cost of $10,000. There is a turpentine distillery for 
extracting turpentine from gum, and there is a retort plant for dis- 
tilling turpentine from the pine wood. The promoters of this 
plant for distillation realized the fact that this is an age of utility, 
and they have managed to utilize the by-products of everything that 
can lie found in connection with the pine tree except its shade. The 
company has a 3-70 saw complete ginnery, with steel tramper. 
double revolving press and automatic unloader. This outfit is capa- 
ble of ginning and compressing a hale of cotton in twenty minutes. 
The company also has a cotton seed and fertilizer mill. The com- 
pany's general store is one of the great mercantile establishments of 
Kowaliga, and does a business to the value of many thousand dollars 
annually. On the farming lands of the Dixie Company there is a 
population of three hundred souls, one-tenth of whom are whites, 
who promptly pay their rents and cultivate the good will, peace 
and confidence of all about them. It is a compliment to the man- 
agement of the company that its system of dealing with its patrons 
is so just and reasonable that its patrons, white and Mack alike, can 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



471 







< 



< 



472 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

get along with each other in peace and amity. In addition to the 
multitude of common laborers employed by the company, it has 
in its employment a dozen <>r more trained bookkeepers, clerks, 
superintendents and the like. Some of these trained employes are 
graduates of some of the best schools and colleges in the land. 

Work Provided for All. 

The distinctive feature of the Kowaliga idea is to provide employ- 
ment for every individual of the community, from the children in the 
schools to the parents on the farms and in the industries. It is 
in a measure a reasonable solution of the problem of the social, 
industrial and economic development of the race. The writer was 
astounded by the magnitude of the Kowaliga idea, and he was com- 
pelled to admit that there is really something "'new under the sun." 
The results of the writer's investigations make the writer marvel 
but the more at the genius and resourcefulness of the young man 
whose life work is as astonishing as it is far-reaching and beneficent. 
His originality and versatility of mind peculiarly adapt him to the 
great work in which he is engaged. He is an authority in every 
department of the industrial plant, and is capable of getting results 
that would he impossible with men of less ability. In the person 
of Mr. Benson tin- writer perceives a virile, undying force that is 
capable of coping with the unlimited possibilities which the great 
educational and industrial plants under his management present. 
In the domain of industry his name should be captain, and in the 
fields of finance it should be Napoleon. He is the Executive Seer 
tary-Treasurer of the Kowaliga School, and President of the Dixie 
Industrial Company. He is the active, controlling power behind 
the Kowaliga idea in whatever form it may manifest itself. His 
business operations are on a scale that is beyond the ability of 
.an ordinary man. 

A\ Extraordinary Man. 

The subject is a modest man. and gives to his father and those 
that are associated with the subject all of the credit tor his great 
success. He conducts the business .-it Kowaliga on a safe and sane 
principle, and his pronounced success in this particular should be 
a valuable lesson to others. In his relation to his multitude ot 
employes he accords to them every possible courtesy. lie has not 
resorted to noise, bluster and billingsgate to get the required work 
out of the men in his employment, hut he has ever been just and 
considerate, and has succeeded in getting out of his men a maximum 
ot service for a minimum of annoyance. He does not believe in the 
efficacy of rough speech, threats and intimidation to get work out 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 473 

of his men. but he believes in the living principles of the Golden 
Rule. As measured by his achievements, the subjed is a highly 
successful man. He is an organizer and a worker, and he has the 

power of initiative tli.it lew men of the race possess. He has the 
ability to carry on to successful conclusion a great many different 
enterprises at one time. He is a convincing conversationalist, and 
undoubtedly ought to be a convincing orator. Nature has been 
liberal with him, and has conferred upon him a personal pulchritude 
that is seldom given to the men of the same race. He takes a serious 
view of life, and is always studying and planning for the mastery 
of some of life's problems. There is nothing that is at all common- 
place in his character. He is high-toned to the core and never loses 
bis dignity. He is at all times a business man. and prefers to talk 
along business lines. He seems to be dominated by an all-consum 
ing purpose, and this purpose permeates his actions and his con 
versation. 

A Talented Family. 

Not only did Dr. Bedford manifest interest in the welfare of 
the subject, but he was equally interested in the education and 
success of the other children of the Benson family. Miss I.ula 
Benson, now Mrs. I.ula Barabin of Marianna. Ark., is the wife 
of Dr. J. H. Barabin. one of the most successful physicians in the 
State of Arkansas. She is a graduate of Tuskegee Normal Insti- 
tute and also was a student at l'isk University and Oberlin College. 
She is a musician of ability, and is as pleasant in disposition as 
she is superior in musical ability. Miss M attic Benson, now Mrs. 
F. J. Mauley, is also a graduate of Tuskegee Normal Institute, and 
later studied dressmaking and designing at the famous Pratt Pol} 
technic Institute, Brooklyn. X. Y. She is now leading the simple 
life of a farmer's spouse, and is the estimable wife of Mr. F. J. 
Mauley, formerly head of the printing division of Tuskegee Insti- 
tute. 

Credit to His Co Workers. 

The subject is in a class by himself in push, originality and 
ability combined, and no other man has derived greater pleasure 
from acquaintance with him than the humble writer of this sketch. 
The subject does not take unto himself undue credit for .all that 
he has accomplished for Kowaliga. He is sincerely grateful to tie- 
little band of men and women who have stood at his side as 
workers through all of these years, and he is keenly conscious of 
the fact that without their help, sympathy and loyalty his efforts 
to a larire degree would have been a failure. 




474 BEACON LIGHTS OF TUT RACE 

J. T. Settle, A.M., LL.B., Memphis, Tenn. 

Attorney and Counsellor. 

HE age of oratory is not dead, all statements to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. The law governing the amount 
of true oratory in the world is similar to the great doc- 
trine of the conservation of energy which ascribes inde- 
structibility to energy as well as matter. The sum total of oratory 
in the world is the same today as it ever was. but it is in a latent 
state, and therefore is not revealed to man. As the world has pro- 
gressed from barbarism and human rights and human liberty have 
been more safeguarded, there has been less occasion for display of 
that eloquence that characterized former times. Human wrongs 
and oppression are the true sources of eloquence. There must be 
the occasion to electrify the heart, revivify the soul and communi- 
cate to the tongue the vital spark of human sentiment, which is the 
real basis of all oratory. The harp of eloquence is the instrument 
on whose golden strings the dissatisfied soul sends forth its message 
of unrest to the world. 

In the early days of this republic there were mighty men. notable 
the world over for their eloquence, but the source of their eloquence 
was the same that has in all ages of the world set on tire the 
tongues of men. The age of oratory will never die as long as there 
are human wrongs to be righted or human inequalities to be adjusted. 
This is the brief life story of a man whose innate gifts as an orator 
have hardly had a parallel in the history of the nation. The fact 
that this king of eloquent men is still moving, breathing and having 
his being among the walks of men is concrete, living proof of the 
statement that the age of true oratory is not dead. 

His Birthplace. 

Hon. Josiah T. Settle, the gifted subject of this sketch, was born 
on the summit of the Cumberland Mountains in East Tennessee 
while his parents were in transit from Rockingham County, North 
Carolina, to the State of Mississippi. While his birthplace was 
expected to be in the State of Mississippi, yet it became the happy 
lot of the old Volunteer State to enroll the subject in the galaxy 
• if her native sons. 

Of Distinguished Ancestry. 

The subject's father was a member of the famous Settle family 
of North Carolina, and the royal character of his blood was shown 
by his perfect devotion t<> his children and his willingness to care 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



475 




J. T. SETTLE, i 



476 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

for tin in. protect them and give to them the blessings of education. 
This kind father manumitted his slave wife and all of her eight chil- 
dren while h<- was residing in the State of -Mississippi, but in the 
year of 1856 he moved his family to Hamilton, Ohio, where the 
welfare of his wife and children would he better safeguarded than 
it might have been if they had continued to reside in the State of 
Mississippi. He was a wealthy planter in the State of Mississippi. 
and resided there until the beginning of the Civil War. when he 
found it prudent to quit the South because of his Northern sym- 
pathies. He came North and remained with his family until his 

death in 1869- 

His Education. 

Hamilton, Ohio, was the theater of the subject's youthful educa- 
tional activities until he was sixteen years old. when his parents 
sent him to Oberlin. Ohio, where he prepared for college. In the 
year of 1868 the subject matriculated in the freshman class of 
Oberlin College, but he transferred his allegiance to Howard Uni- 
versity. Washington. D. C when he was in his sophomore year at 
Oberlin. and succeeded in making a similar classification at How- 
ard University. He graduated from the college department of 
Howard University in the year of 1872 and thus had the honor of 
being a member of the first graduating class from that university. 

A Graduate in Law in 187"'. 

The subject having graduated from the College of Arts of 
Howard University in 187~. immediately matriculated in the law 
department of the university for the purpose of preparing himself 
for the legal profession. The subject was very fortunate in taking 
up the study of law at that particular time at Howard University, 
for at the head of that department was that prince of scholars and 
lawyers. Hon. J. M. Langston, who was not only gifted in juris- 
prudence, but he was one of the ablest men in the history of the 
American nation. With such an eminent scholar, orator and states- 
man to illumine his legal pathway and inspire the subject to put 
forth his best efforts, it is reasonable to suppose that the ancient 
study of law conferred upon the subject quite as much of pleasure 
as it did profit. After three years of careful and persistent appli- 
cation to the study of law. the subject graduated from the College 
of Law of Howard University with the degree of Bachelor of 
Laws in the year of 1875. 

Entered Political Life Early. 

In the latter part of the subject's senior year in the College of 
Arts of Howard University in 1872, he was elected Reading Clerk 
of the House of Delegates of the District of Columbia, and served 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 477 

one session. On July p. INT.'!. he was appointed Clerk in the Board 
of Public Works of the District of Columbia at a salary of $1,200 
per annum, and remained in that capacity until that department 
of the municipal government ceased to exist. In the year of 1873 
lie was honored with appointment to membership on the School 
Board of the District of Columbia, a position which lie tilled for 
two years, and one to which he was re-appointed, but was unable to 
serve because of quitting the district tor the purpose of locating in 
the South. On August '29. 1874, the subject was appointed a clerk 
in the Board of Audit of the District of Columbia, a board whose 
duties were to adjust the indebtedness of the former Hoard of 
Public Works. He served in that capacity until the board had 
completed its official task and expired by statutory act of Congress. 

A P>rsv Student in College. 

While the gifted subject was a student both in the College of 
Arts and the College of Law of Howard University, be was bur 
dened with serious official responsibility. At the time of his gradu- 
ation from the College of Arts he was a tutor in the university, a 
student in the university .and Reading Clerk of the House of Dele- 
gates of the District of Columbia. His experience while a law 
student in the university was a continuation of Ins experience in the 
College of Arts, for he continued to occupy the center of the stage 
of political activity, and developed a political influence and power 
unprecedented in the life of any student in the history of the uni- 
versity. His superior talents not only enabled him to serve in 
various political capacities while a student at Howard University, 
but compelled his recognition as an orator in the political cam- 
paigns of those early days. In the year of 1ST.'' he was a power 
on the hustings in his advocacy of the principles of the Republican 
party, and early established himself as one of the lust young politi- 
cal orators of the North. 

South to Pra< ti< e I. \w. 

In the year of IN?."' the subject, having graduated from tin law 
department of Howard University, resigned his various positions 
in the District of Columbia, went South to practice law. and 
located in Sard is. Miss. 

A Remarkable Political Career. 

Though the brilliant subject of this sketch had located in the 
State of Mississippi to practice the profession tor which he had 
been so carefully prepared, yet the fates had already decreed that 



478 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

he should be called upon to serve the welfare of his countrymen 
in other fields of usefulness in addition to his practice before the 
bar of public justice. He had hardly put his feet on Mississippi 
soil before he was unanimously nominated by the Republican party 
for the exalted position of District Attorney of the Twelfth Judicial 
District of Mississippi. Under normal political conditions the said 
district was overwhelmingly Republican, but the historic political 
year of 1875 witnessed a general political revolution in the State of 
Mississippi, as well as in all of the other States of the South, and 
the result was that the subject was sacrificed on the altar of defeat, 
just as were all the rest. In the year of 1876 the subject was 
honored with election as delegate to the National Republican Con- 
vention, which convened in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. As dele- 
gate from the Commonwealth of Mississippi, he was the only one 
from that State to vote for the nomination of Hon. Roscoe Conkling 
for President of the United States, and the subject persisted in his 
support of the distinguished statesman with the hyperion curls as 
long as his name was before the convention. It was a delegation of 
political celebrities that represented the State of Mississippi in the 
National Republican Convention at Cincinnati in the year of 187'i. 
Ex-Governor Alcorn, ex-Governor Ames, Hon. B. K. Bruce. Hon 
.lames Hill and others Conned a part of the august delegation in 
question, but the brilliant subject, though he was a newcomer to 
the State and the youngest man in the delegation, was accorded the 
honor of seconding the nomination of Gen. Stewart L. Woodford 
of New York for the office of Vice-President of the United States. 
In this same year of the "political deluge" in Mississippi the subject 
was nominated as one of the presidential electors for the State at 
large on the National Republican ticket, and he made a vigorous 
and effective canvass of the whole State in the interest of the 
standard bearers of the Republican party. 

In the memorable campaign of 1S80 the subject was honored 
with the nomination of presidential elector on the Garfield and 
Arthur ticket, and his eloquent efforts in behalf of the nominees of 
the Republican party had much to do with the popular majority 
which was given them and which resulted in their election to the 
presidency and vice-presidency of the United States. In the year 
of 1882 pressure was brought to bear upon the subject with the 
view of his acceptance of the nomination tor Congress in the Second 
Congressional District of Mississippi, but he not only declined the 
honor, but he did the graceful act of himself nominating Gen. 
.tames R. Chalmers for that high office. Having been made Chair- 
man of tlie Republican Congressional Executive Committee, the sub- 
ject made an active and vigorous canvass of the district in advocacv 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 479 

of the tlection of the Republican nominee, and materially con- 
tributed to the splendid majority that was given Gen. Chalmers. 

A Member of the Mississippi Legislature. 

In the year of 1S83 one of the crowning honors of the subject's 
life was conferred upon him by his nomination and election to the 
Legislature of Mississippi. In Panola County there was a re-align- 
ment of political forces caused by the coalition of the Republican 
party with the Democratic party. This re-alignment of forces 
resulted in the nomination of an independent ticket whose standard 
bearer was the able orator and brilliant attorney whose name graces 
the head of this sketch. Great were those days in the political life 
of Panola County. Political independence was such a novelty in 
that State that the voters were stirred up as they had never been 
before. The eloquent nominee on the independent ticket met on 
the political hustings the most able and the most gifted orators 
of the opposition, but so startling was the ability that he displayed 
and so statesmanlike were his utterances in the campaign that his 
political adherents, with the irresistible force of the .Macedonian 
phalanx, swept everything before them and elected him to the 
Legislature of Mississippi by a majority of more than 1,-200. 

When the subject took his seat as a member of the Mississippi 
Legislature from Panola County, it is doubtful if there had ever 
been elected to any other legislature in this country a new member 
that in ability, training and experience was better qualified to serve 
the interests of the people of his State, and there is no doubt but 
that the subject's race was the only thing that kept him from the 
highest honors that could have been conferred upon him by the 
voters of his State. Notwithstanding the fact that he had been 
elected on an independent ticket, the subject affiliated with the 
Republican party in the Legislature. His Republicanism has ever 
been of the uncompromising variety, the Republicanism of Lincoln, 
Blaine, Garfield and a host of true American patriots, whose politi- 
cal principles were as lasting as the towering rock on Gibraltar s 
coast. As an orator the subject was easily in the front rank of the 
membership of the lower house. 1 1 is oratory was a revelation to 
the members of the House, and it was an era in the deliberations 
of that body when the eloquent member from Panola County had 
the ear of the Speaker. 

The experience of the subject while a member of the Legislature 
of Mississippi was very pleasant, for lie was the recipient of many 
kindnesses from his colleagues on both sides of the legislative cham- 
ber. Not only was his remarkable intellectual endowment recog- 
nized bv his colleagues, but his kindliness of heart, his affability 



480 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

-Hid his unaffected demeanor. Whether as a member of the Legis- 
lature <>r lawyer at the bar. or orator on the platform, or the center 
of a social gathering, there are many admirable qualities in the 
character of the subject fchat have always commended him to popu- 
lar favor. Such was the ease when he was a member of the Legis- 
lature of Mississippi, tor lie was the honored recipient of a gold- 
headed walking cane as a token of the great esteem in which he 
was held by the members of the lower house. The speech of pre- 
sentation was made by Col. Baker, one of the brilliant and eloquent 
young members of the House, and was in every respect a worthy 
' ffort from a worthy source. The subject treasures this cane as 
in of the most precious mementoes of his life. The subject was 
treated with great kindness by the public press of the State, and 
the Jackson Clarion was especially kind in its attitude to the elo- 
quent and dashing young orator from Panola County. 

Hangs Oct His Shingle in Memphis, Tknx. 

Having served in the Legislature of Mississippi, the subject 
began to tire of the turmoil of political life, and decided to abandon 
politics for the practice of his profession. With this object in 
view lie quit the State of Mississippi, moved to the city of Mem- 
phis, and began his career as a practicing lawyer in the State of 
Tennessee in the year of 1885. 

Assistant Attornky General of the Criminal Court. 

The advent of Lawyer J. T. Settle in legal circles in the city of 
Memphis produced a kind of sensation, for the natives of the Bluff 
City had never before heard such an eloquent advocate. He at 
once leaped to such a fame that hi' became the cynosure of the 
Memphis bar. In two months after the gifted lawyer had located 
in Memphis his great legal ability and remarkable oratorical talents 
made such a profound impression on General G. V. M. Turner, the 
Attorney General of the Criminal Court of Shelby County, that 
he appointed Lawyer Settle as Assistant Attorney General of the 
Criminal Court. The subject performed tin onerous duties of his 
office with signal ability. Owing to the frequent absence of the 
Attorney General himself, the great burden of prosecution fell 
upon the able and willing shoulders of the subject, who for two 
whole years managed tin affairs of that exalted office with such 
splendid ability that he won the admiration of judges and juries 
alike. At the time of tin subject's incumbency as Assistant Attor- 
■ \ General of the Criminal Court of Shelbj County, Judge Addi- 
son H. Douglas presided on the lunch of the Criminal Court. Tin 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 481 

distinguished judge was not only Learned in the law, but he had 
many of those personal characteristics that endeared him to the 
people who had elevated him to that exalted judicial position. The 
high appreciation that was entertained for the subject by Judge 
Addison H. Douglas may he known by the judge's highly compli- 
mentary letter concerning Assistant Attorney General Settle. 

The Tetter of Judge Douglas. 

"It is at all times a pleasant duty to offer commendation to those 
whose exemplary professional deportment has been such as to 
challenge attention. This is peculiarly appropriate in reference to 
those who have had the good fortune to be admitted to practice in 
the courts of the country; for in that capacity, with all of its sur- 
roundings of contact and associations, a man more readily and cer- 
tainly develops his true character than almost anywhere else. I 
am led to these observations in part by closely scrutinizing the 
general deportment of members of the bar, both from the bench and 
as an associate practitioner. 

"A remarkable instance occurs to me at present in this connection 
in the character and conduct of J. T. Settle, Esq. He settled in 
Memphis about the year of 1885, having recently served in the 
Tegislature of the State of Mississippi, and shortly after locating 
in the practice in this city, he was appointed Assistant Attorney 
General, which position he continued to till two or three years with 
marked ability and fidelitv. His uniform attention to official busi- 
ness, his manly courtesy and amiability won for him the esteem 
and respect of the bench, the bar and litigants, and went very far 
to break down the existing prejudice against his color in the pro- 
fession. His talent is fully recognized and his integrity has in 
no instance been in the least questioned from any source. 

"He prosecuted without acerbity and with fairness, but neglected 
no legitimate resources to fix conviction upon the really guilty. He 
is such a master of elocution and displays such fluency and indeed 
brilliancy that he invariably captivated those who listened to him. 
He is remarkably simple in his manners, and utterly without osten- 
tation, and an honor to his profession. Respectfullv, 

"A. H. DOUGLAS." 

A Busy and Successful Lawyer. 

After the expiration of his term of office as Assistant Attorney 
General of the Criminal Court, the subject again settled down to 
the practice of his profession. Although he was comparatively i 
stranger in the city of Memphis in the year of 1887, when he 
resumed his regular practice of the legal profession, yet he was 
borne on the flood-tide of appreciation and legal success. The 



482 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA< E 

extraordinary ability that he exhibited in the performance of his 

duties as prosecuting attorney of Shelby County, and the remark- 
able success that he achieved in that capacity gave to him the 
encouragement and patronage of an unsual number of clients, and 
at once put him in the front ranks of the lawyers in the Memphis 
bar. For more than a quarter of a century the worthy subject, in 
spite of his racial identity, has been one of the leaders of tin 
.Memphis bar, and there are few advocates at the bar that have a 
more lucrative practice than he. 

His Tribute to the White Lawyers of the South. 

The profession of law is the only one of the so-called learned 
professions that gives opportunity to the colored man to strive for 
the mastery, in a cause affecting human rights, with towering intel- 
lects of the world, irrespective of race, color or previous condition. 
In the practice of law the judiciary are white, the jurors are white. 
and the laws that have been crystallized on the statute books of 
the South have had in view the welfare of the dominant race. 
Therefore, there is every possible incentive for the colored lawyer 
to strive for the mastery. The colored lawyer is compelled to meet as 
antagonists before the bar of public justice men whose ancestors had 
wrested the charter of English liberty from King John, and whose 
children have inherited from them legal training, just as they have 
inherited other personal characteristics. However, the experience 
of Lawyer Settle with his white fellow practitioners at the bar has 
been extremely pleasant, and he has been accorded every kindness 
and consideration by them. His actual treatment has not been 
affected because of his race, for it is his belief that he could not have 
been treated more kindly nor have been given more consideration 
if he were a member of the dominant race, instead of his own race. 
He feels deeply grateful to the members of the Memphis bar for 
their continued kindly consideration, extending over a period of 
more than a quarter of a century ti( active practice, ami he does 
not think that there is a colored lawyer in Memphis that is treated 
with greater kindness and consideration than he is by the noble 
advocates at the Memphis bar. This tribute applies to lawyers. 
judges and juries alike, and is the candid expression o( a man who 
is proud to publish to the world the fact that in the practice of his 
profession in the city of Memphis he has known no positive dis 
crimination because of his race or color. 

Step by Step to the Top of the Legal Ladder. 

The brilliant and gifted subject of this sketch has a career in 
the legal profession of which any lawyer in any age of jurispru- 



BEACOS LIG II is or THE RACE 483 

dence may well be proud, for his own indomitable will and extra- 
ordinary talents have enabled him step by step to mount to the 
top of tlie legal ladder. As soon as lie had received his diploma of 
graduation from the law department of Howard University he was 
admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of 
Columbia. He was subsequently admitted to the practice of his 
profession in several of the Southern States, and finally he received 
the crowning glory of his professional career by being admitted 
to practice before the highest tribunal of justice in the land. The 
United States Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the 
land, and in its archives, hoary with age, is the pent-up legal 
wisdom of the teeming centuries that have come down to it from 
time immemorial. Just as the United States Supreme Court is the 
highest tribunal of justice for the nation, in like manner the law- 
yers that have the honor of appearing before this august tribunal 
represent the best in the legal profession in point of ability, experi- 
ence and high character. It is the privilege of few lawyers to be 
admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, 
and when such a privilege is accorded it is incontrovertible evi- 
dence of the highest legal attainments. On motion of Gen. S. A. 
Putnam, the able and brilliant subject of this sketch was admitted 
to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States April 20, 
1903. 

His Political Career in Tennessee. 

There is something that is very seductive in the game of politics. 
If a man has ability of the highest order, and is endowed with that 
degree of eloquence that enables him to sway the multitude, it is 
not an easy thing to withstand the allurements of political life. In 
the memorable political year of 1888 the subject became a member 
of the Republican State Executive Committee, and it was his honor 
to serve continuously longer on this committee than any other politi- 
cian of the race in the history of the Republican organization in 
Tennessee, for he remained on the committee for sixteen years. 

In the year of 1892 the subject was elected a delegate to the 
Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. In 1806" he was 
elected alternate delegate from tin- State at large to the Republican 
National Convention at St. Louis, which nominated the lamented 
William J. McKinley. In 1<)00 the subject was elected a delegate 
from the State at large to the Republican National Convention at 
Philadelphia. In 1904 he was alternate delegate from the State 
at large to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, which 
nominated Theodore Roosevelt tor the presidency. He is still highly 
appreciated in the councils of the Republican party, and his elo- 
quent exposition of Republican principles for over a quarter of i 



484 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

century has done much tor the ascendency of the historic party in 
the grand old Volunteer State. 

A Consistent Churi h Worker. 

It is a beautiful thought by some writer, who says that all in. n. 
like apples and pears,, should grow mellow with increasing years. 
Such, indeed, has been the experience in the life of the worthy sub- 
ject of this sketch, for as his eyes have gradually turned toward 
tin- Occident of lite he has considered more and more the spiritual 
side of life, and his labors are largely restricted to church and 
social work. He feels grateful to the Almighty Power for the 
wonderful success that has attended his efforts during all of the 
days of his life. He has ever enjoyed the confidence and respect of 
his fellowmen. and the passing years have but the more intensified 
his worldly success. He is one of the pillars of Emmanuel Episco- 
pal Church, and his personal efforts and means are at the pleasure 
of the church whose principles, moral, religious and otherwise, he 
has long since learned to love. 

His Worldly Goods. 

Lawyer J. T. Settle has been one of the busiest men in Christen- 
dom all of his life. His life of onerous responsibility began when 
he was a member of the College of Arts of Howard University. 
and has continued to a certain degree until the present time. He 
has been devoted to his profession, and has made success in bis 
profession the consuming ambition of his life. Not only has he 
gained nearly unprecedented success in the practice of his profes- 
sion, but he lias honestly made a considerable quantity of the goods 
of this world. He has always lived in a manner befitting his 
station in life, but he has also made a substantial provision for the 
future of his family and the possible infirmities of his own old age. 
He has very valuable property in the city of Memphis, and all of 
it is located in the exclusive- sections of the city. A conservative 
< stiin.ite of his various properties would place the value of his 
worldly goods at $50,000 to $60,000. 

His Accomplished and Devoted Wife. 

\ot only has tin wonderful eloquence of Lawyer Settle been 
used in pleading tin cause of his clients before the bar of public 

justice, but it has SUCCeesfully been used in pleading his own 
cause, and it is more than probable that this particular effort was 
the most effective plea thai he ever made in his life, for it resulted 
in his winning the hand, heart and lite companionship of his 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 4.s5 

accomplished and devoted wife. On March 20, 1890, the subject 
led to the altar as his bride Miss Fannie A. McCollough of Mem- 
phis, Tenn. She was a vocalist of unusual ability, and for years 
was the leading musical artist of the city of .Memphis. So highly 
esteemed was her musical ability that she was at the head of the 
music department of LeMoyne Normal Institute at the time of her 
marriage. It has been the good fortune of few men to have such a 
faithful and devoted companion as has the subject of this sketch. 
She is a sensible woman, and seems to have been created especially 
for the inspiration and protection of the man who has been her hus 
hand and counsellor for these many years. Two children have 
blessed the union of this devoted couple, Josiah T. Settle, Jr., and 
Francis McCollough Settle. These boys have been given every 
educational advantage that money could provide and they ought to 
be able to take up the reins of power at the point where fate should 
decree for their able lather to have off. and lead the name of 
Settle on and on where it belongs, to the zenith of the constellation 
of American greatness. 

The Personality of Lawyer Settle. 

To have a naturally charming personality is one of the most 
valuable personal assets that can be conferred upon a man. The 
subject is a man of engaging, magnetic personality, and enjoys 
the distinction of being one of the most popular men in the city of 
Memphis. Notwithstanding the fact that the subject is one of the 
best educated men in America, and has had honors of every kind 
conferred upon him, yet he has never been conceited or puffed up 
with importance, and he is still the quintessence of simplicity .and 
modesty in all things pertaining to his own personal attainments 
and achievements. Me is at heart one of nature's noblemen, .and 
his reward is the grateful appreciation, admiration and love of a 
host of friends. 

Oratory Still Lives. 

The superb lawyer and grand advocate is one of the few great 
orators of the present day. and to sec and hear his matchless oratory 
on some grand occasion is just like turning back the curtain ot the 
dead past and readmitting to the scene some of the giants of ora- 
tory whose efforts now linger only in the portals of memory. Nature 
seems to have made special preparation for his oratorical excellence, 
for she gave to him a charm of manner, a suavity of speech, a 
fluency of choice and precise diction and a grand presence, such as 
few men ever had. His voice is one of the most magnificent that 
ever thrilled an audience, and when displayed to the tidiest extent 



486 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

of its possibilities it is enough to invoke the shades of the dead 
orators of past generations and make them wish to revisit these 
mundane shores to live anew those glorious days of terrestrial life. 
As a gifted orator he takes the front rank with the eminent orators 
of America, and his wonderful gift of puhlic speech is the glory, 
not only of the Negro race in America, but of the whole American 
nation. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 1-7 

]'. P. Brown, M.D., Greenville, Miss. 

N ALL ages <>t' the world mankind has honored genius. 
It is a God-given power which overreaches all distinc- 
tions in human society based upon the accident of birth 
or the circumstances of environment. It is not the exclu- 
sive possession of any individual, race or nation; it does not depend 
upon the color of one's skin, the texture of one's hair, nor the 
identity of one's race, for genius knows no color line. It is but 
simple justice to the Negro race to assign to it the credit of having 
contributed its part to the sum total of advanced thinkers, the 
pioneers in business and professional life, the master minds of the 
world, and the geniuses of civilization. Eminent men of the race 
have contributed much to original scientific research, have fath- 
omed the depths of nature's innermost secrets, and have given to 
mankind the benefits of their labor. 

In every branch of business and professional endeavor some 
daring and transcending genius has blazed the way from the beaten 
paths of ordinary achievement to such a marvelous development 
along various lines in the past few years as to open to the race a 
vista of possibilities of which hitherto it had never dreamed. Tin- 
subject of this sketch. Dr. E. P. Brown, of Greenville. Mississippi, 
by a life of earnest endeavor, achievement and success in both the 
business and the professional world, has placed his name high upon 
that roll of great men of the race whose genius, like a beacon light, 
has illumined the way to business and professional success. He 
is a man broad of intellect, deep of thought and strong, morally, 
physically and financially. He is indeed one of the best examples 
of successful men in the ranks of the whole race. 

Born a Slave. 

He was born a slave at Holmesville, Pike County. Mississippi, 
December 13, 1856. and though a child of tender years when the 
immortal Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, he remem- 
bers many of the horrors incident to the life of slavery, and received 
impressions thus early which have served through life to spur him 
on to greater effort. 

His Literary Training. 

Very few men of any race ever made such a vigorous and deter 
mined effort to acquire an education as this child, to whom the 
use of books was denied by the law of the land. While yet a child, 
though a slave, he [earned to read and managed to pick up consid- 
erable information from books bv reason of chance association with 



488 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




l)k. K. P. HRoU N 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 489 

the master class. Nature had endowed him with a mind that, 
sponge-like, absorbed everything around him within the limits oi 
his youthful understanding. But it was after tin- days of freedom 
had come that his real, earnest, intellectual struggles began. People 
wdio live in these glorious days of twentieth century educational 
opportunities cannot fully appreciate the primitive character of the 
schools of the early days succeeding the Civil War. That race, but 
recently emerged from the depths of slavery, had no intellectual 
men in the South to fill the school rooms as teachers, and if it had 
not been for the kindly interest of many Northern veterans of the 
Civil War, who continued to remain in the South after that inter- 
necine struggle had ended, the educational hope of the race would 
have been deferred much longer than it was. One of the first 
teachers of this child was a member of that class of wdiite people to 
which reference has just been made, and he did much to stimulate 
the boy's desire to master books and fathom the mysteries of learn- 
ing. The lad was precocious and easily mastered the work which 
was then prescribed in the common schools of Pike County. He 
then studied privately under some of the best teachers in the State 
of Mississippi and finally finished his school life with a course of 
instruction (electives) at Central Tennessee College, now Walden 
University, Nashville. Tenn. The great ambition of his life when 
a vouth was to acquire a classical education, backed up with a 
diploma of graduation from one of the leading colleges then open 
to the race in America, but his ambition was only partially realized. 
He is, however, one of the most intellectual men of the race, and 
the possession of a college diploma could have added hut little 
to his reputation as a profound thinker and intellectual man. 

A Schoolmaster at Sixteen. 

Before becoming one of the leading physicians of the race, t lit - 
worthy subject of this sketch was one of the most progressive and 
most successful teachers in the common schools of his native State. 
He began his career as a schoolmaster at the early age of sixteen 
years, and taught for thirteen consecutive years in Pike. Lincoln and 
Amite Counties. Y\ nile he was one of the most capable teachers 
in the common schools of his State, and did his whole duty toward 
those sacred minds that were entrusted to his care, yet he had never 
aspired to make the teachers' profession his lite work. When a 
mere lad he had resolved to he a doctor oi' medicine, and it was 
through the instrumentality of teaching that he calculated on gain- 
ing such a competence as would enable him to carry out the plans 
of his life. He abandoned the profession of teaching in the year 
of 1886, for he was then prepared to begin the practice of a pro 



490 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

fession that has for its object the alleviation of the ills of suffering 

humanity. 

A Graduate of Meharry Medical College. 

The autumn of 188,3 was the turning point in the life of this 
young man, for it was then that he was to realize the ambition of 
his life. In that memorable year lit- matriculated at Meharry Medi- 
cal College, and began therein three years of patient application 
and diligent research that were finally to bring their rich reward. 
The medical course at that time was two years, not only at Meharry, 
but in most of the great medical colleges in the land. This young 
doctor was anxious to make the most thorough preparation possible 
for his future work, for he appreciated more than the average 
student the magnitude of the undertaking to understand the struc- 
ture of the human body and the thousand ami one remedies for its 
relief. Instead of being satisfied with the two years' course, he 
decided that it would be wise for him to study three years in serious 
preparation for success. The wisdom of his course is evident from 
the remarkable proficiency that he showed in his medical examina- 
tions, where he stood very high in every subject in the course. He- 
was one of the best prepared physicians that the institution ever 
turned out, and when he graduated in the year of 1886 and went 
forth from the classic halls of his alma mater to practice the prin- 
ciples of the medical profession, the college authorities felt con- 
fident of his ability to maintain the highest standards in his pro- 
fession. 

A Medical Practitioner at Utica, Mississippi. 

After his graduation from Meharry Medical College, the newly- 
fledged doctor first hung out his shingle at Utica, Mississippi. August 
9, 188b". He was successful from the very beginning of his career. 
He practiced in that section of the State for three years, and Mas 
mi successful that he accumulated quite a fortune. He was a man 
of exemplary habits, and had nothing to hinder his progress. He 
was married while a young man. and had a family consisting of a 
wife and four children at the time of his graduation. Thus he was 
a man of thought as well as responsibility, and had no difficulty 
in rapidly mounting the ladder of professional fame and wealth. 

Tin: Doctor's Loving and Life Companion. 

Dr. Brown S great success in both his l>usin< -s ,md professional 

lite has hern largely due to the inspiration of his devoted wife, who 

cheerfully cast her lot with him when he was a voting man. without 

m\ worldly possession except his dcterminat ion to make his mark 



mmsm 



mm\m 



^rm® 




TOP ROW— MRS. E. P. BROWN EARL NUGENT BROWN 

BOTTOM ROW— NOEL PATRICK BROWN DR. DAISY ESTELLE BROWN 



492 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

in life. The lady of his choice was a Miss Rhodelia Collins, of 
Summit. Mississippi. She received her education in the public 
school in Summit, and taught a few years in the common school 
system of her native State. They were married on January Hi. 
1879. and the two have walked hand in hand down the road of lite. 
sharing each other's sorrows and joys, content and happy in each 
other's confidence, true to the pledge that they had made at the 
altar, and ambitious to rear and educate the children whom God had 
entrusted to their protection and care. Mrs. Brown is an earnest, 
faithful woman in everything that she attempts, and is one of the 
best companions with whom a man was ever blessed. While Dr. 
Brown is indeed a great man. his dear wife helped to make him so. 
She is even greater than her husband along her line, and the doctor 
c heei-fully concedes superiority to her and everlasting appreciation 
for her faithfulness and devotion, extending over a period of nearly 
a third of a century. 

Their Children. 

The eldest of the children of this union is Mr. Emerson Went- 
worth Brown. He is a graduate of Alcorn A. & M. College. West 
Side. Mississippi, and lie is now blessed with a wife who has an 
eye single to his every interest. He is an expert shoe manufacturer, 
having finished his trade while a student at Alcorn University. He 
is at present the proprietor of the "Never Sleep Shoe .Shop" of 
St. Louis, Mo. He has the most complete and the most up-to-d ite 
establishment of its kind in the city of St. Louis, Mo., and it is a 
great compliment to the workmanship, push and resources of the 
young man. Mr. E. W. Brown studied for two years at Meharrv 
Medical College, and contemplates completing his course at no 
distant day. He is very popular and has a host of friends, who 
believe iii him. Mr. Nugeni Brown is a graduate of Oberlin Acad- 
emy, class of 1910, and is now studying dentistry at Meharrv Medi- 
cal College. Nashville, Tenn. 

Mr. Noel Patrick Brown is a graduate Prom Oberlin College, 

class of 1JM1. He is a splendid scholar or he would not bring 

home credentials from such a worthy and honored alma mater. 

Dr. Daisy Estelle Broun is a young woman of whom any parent 
would In- proud. She is one of the best educated young women iii 
America, and has enjoyed advantages that few of the young women 
of the race hav< ever been able to enjoy. She has had every 
advantage tor the cultivation of her intellect, bul she is in no sense 
a spoiled darling. On the contrary, sin- is one of the most practical 
young women that one may meet in a day's journev. Her education 
has cost her parents a considerable sum, and she is proving worthy 
of every dollar that was spent. She attended Man Hoi nes Semi- 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



m 




Emerson Wentworth Brown and Mrs. Emerson Wentworth Brown 

nary Spellman Seminary and subsequently graduated from Atlanta 
H.-n'.tist CoUege with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. She is an 
accomplished musician, having attended the Oberlin Conservatory 
f M„ si( .. h, the year 1907 she graduated from the Womens 
Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., one of the leading medica 
colleges in the United States, and probably the best known medical 



494 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

college that is devoted exclusively to the education of women. She 
passi (1 the State Board of Medical Examiners of the State of 
.Mississippi in October, 1907, and had the honor of standing first 
in the examination of eighty successful applicants. She is associate 
physician with her distinguished father, and the two make a unique 
and invincible medical combination. She has a good practice, and 
tills an endearing place in the affections of the weak and afflicted 
of her sex. 

Ax Able Physician. 

Dr. E. P. Brown enjoys the distinction of being one of the 
ablest physicians in the South. He is a progressive type of medical 
practitioner and keeps abreast the times. He is passionately 
fond of the practice of his profession, and has kept up with all the 
most recent theories, discoveries and curative medicines in the 
domain of practice. When he passed his examination for a license 
to practice in the State of Mississippi he created quite a sensation 
among the wise-acres of that time. He is one of the most gifted 
physicians that the South has ever produced, and would be an 
ornament to the profession in any country and in any age. 

President of Delta Savings Bank. 

Dr. Brown is not only one of the great physicians of the Negro 
race, but lie is also one of its greatest financiers. He is a man 
as well up iii the principles of business life as lie is in the practice 
of medicine, and because of his two-fold ability in this respect he 
has accumulated one of the largest fortunes in the ranks of the 
race. lie has made his money Legitimately, and there is not a spot 
on his financial escutcheon. Recognizing this fact, the people of 
his State have ureal confidence in his ability, both as a business man 
and professional man, and they have been pleased to place him 
at the head of the Delta Savings Bank, Greenville, Miss. As 
President his bunsiness integrity and greal financial strength give 
a solidity to the hank and a confidence in its management that make 
this hank one of the strongest in the State. 

Moved to Greenville, Miss., IN isyi. 

After practicing three years in Utica, Dr. Brown removed to 
Greenville, Mississippi, which being a larger town, would afford 
him greater opportunities in both a business an d professional way, 
.and his foresight gained tor him the opportunity to increase his 
practice to such a degree as to entitle him to a place among the 
Il,nst eminent and ablesi physicians of the South and at the same 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA( E 



\9 



time to acquire by judicious investment a fortune which has won 
tor him the distinction of being known as the "wealthiesl Negro in 
the State of Mississippi." and he is probably the wealthiest medical 

practitioner in the race. 

His Property. 

His property consists of an addition to the city of Greenville, 
Miss., two large farms in Washington County. Mi^s.. and an indc 
pendent fortune in the State of Oklahoma, consisting of farms 
and valuable oil lands, the town site known as Daisy. Oklahoma, 
named in honor of his only daughter, and city property in Musko- 




'TH.E BROWN BUILDING," MUSKOGEE, OKI. A. 



gee, Oklahoma, where he has erected the 'Brown Building." This 
building is a three-story structure, built of brick and stone, con- 
taining twenty rooms on each of the upper floors and two of the 
largest store rooms in the city on tin- ground floor. It is at one- 
one of the attractions of visitors, and one of the objects of pride ot 
the race in that hustling, progressive Southwestern metropolis. 



496 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

The Development of His Property. 

(a) 
Brown's Addition to the City of Greenville, Miss. 

A splendid example of the great magnitude of the business pro- 
jects of Dr. Brown may be gained from Brown's Addition to the 
City of Greenville. Miss. Some time ago Dr. Brown purchased 
one hundred and ten acres of land in the suburbs of Greenville as 
the foundation of a great scheme for the development of tbe race. 
Ordinarily tins threat subdivision would simply have been divided 
into lots and sold tor speculation only, but the purpose of the wise 
promoter is something even greater than speculation and merely 
turning the dollars into bis coffers, for this purchase bad in con- 
templation one of the greatest schemes of beneficence in the history 
of the race in this Southland. 

(b) 

The Negro Manufacturing Commodity and Supply Company. 
Capital Stock $250,000, Divided Into -JoO.OOO 

Shares of $1.00 Ea< h. 

The primary object in opening up to settlement Brown's Addi- 
tion to the City of Greenville was and is to obtain the money with 
which to put in operation the Negro Manufacturing Commodity and 
Supply Company. This company has a capital stock of $250,000; 
and will manufacture socks and stockings as its first product. One 
woman will operate six. twelve and fifteen machines, each of which 
will produce from four and one-half dozen to six dozen pairs of 
hosiery daily. As soon as the necessary amount of capital is forth- 
coming from the sale of lots in this Brown's Addition, it is the 
purpose of the company to erect a fireproof reinforced concrete 
factory building. 50x100 feet, and install the latest Mayo automatic 
knitting mac-hints in sufficient numbers to equip the first unit and 
make an auspicious and effective beginning in the business. 

(0 

The Sale oe Lots. 

Several hundred lots are now on sale, the proceeds of which will 
be devoted exclusivelv to tin fostering of this great Neirro enter- 
prise, which will be the only manufacturing plant of its kind in tin 
South, if not in the world. In purchasing a lot in this addition 
the fortunate buyer will not only make a timely contribution to one 
of the worthiest enterprises ever conceived by a member of the 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE !"/ 

race, but he will make one of the luckiest investments of his life. 
The present cost of a Lot is a mere bagatelle of uli.il it will be 
worth in a short time, even without the factory; but when the con 
tt :mplated factory will have been erected and in operation, these 
same lots will have increased in value many per cent. Now is the 
time for any far-sighted man, who desires to invest, to get busy, 
for the greatest fortunes of the times are largely the result of get- 
ting in on the ground floor in the purchase of Land. Main' an old 
abandoned lot has subsequently become a veritable gold mine of 
profit to its indifferent owner. There is nothing that has such a 
magical effect on the value of land as the proximity of manufac- 
turing plants. It is confidently believed that the lots in this addi- 
tion will even double and treble in value in a reasonable length of 
time after this factory will have been in operation. It will be a 
profitable as well as a philanthropic act for every man to take a 
personal interest in promoting this great manufacturing enterprise 
of the race. (let in direct communication with Dr. Brown and 
investigate one of the greatest enterprises that has ever been con- 
ceived tor the benefit of the Negro race. 



6 



The Negro Should Go Into the Factory. 

While agriculture is the fundamental occupation of the world 
and is the final foundation of all wealth and prosperity, yet the 
most prosperous people are not necessarily farmers, tor the domain 
of commerce presents to the race a fruitful source of opportunity. 
The vast fortunes that have been piled up in this country have 
had their origin in the factory and in the marts of trade. The 
manufacturers draw tribute from every person for whom anything 
whatsoever is to be made, and thus eater to manifold necessities. 
The Negroes of the Southland are the bone .and sinew of the farm- 
ins industry of the South, and without their services the South- 
land would be in a deplorable condition. The Negro has been the 
farming drudge and serf' for centuries, but he can be taught to 
become as proficient a worker in the factory as he is on the farm. 
Heretofore his opportunities have been restricted largely to agri- 
culture because the industrial conditions in the factories were hos- 
tile to his employment. In the promotion of enterprises of the 
character of the Negro Manufacturing Commodity and Supply Coin 
pany. the members of the race will be widening their sphere of 
industrial activity and preparing opportunities i>t' employment for 
thousands of worthy and capable young men and youiiu r women 
of the race, who are now graduating from our best institutions of 
learning and finding nothing to do along the line of remunerative 
employment. 



498 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

The first products of this manufactory will be stockings and 
socks, and it is confidently believed by its promoters that with an 
auspicious beginning of the factory and its products on the market, 
they will be able to employ from two to three thousand men and 
women in the course of twenty-four months. It is their purpose to 
put a thousand drummers in the field just as soon as cases contain- 
ing samples of the company's goods can be provided for each. If 
this great undertaking is to be realized in the near future, the mem- 
bers of the race must not sleep on their opportunities to make the 
project a reality. Every lot that is purchased in Brown's Addition 
will be a step in the direction of hope, prosperity and happiness for 
the race. Grasp the opportunity now; the ground floor pays best. 

Dr. Brown ax Honest and Reliable Max. 

It' the final success of an enterprise is to be predicted, it is only 
necessary to know who its promoters are. Some men are monu- 
mental failures in everything that they undertake, while other men 
are always successful. Such is the case with Dr. Brown, the 
President of this manufacturing enterprise, for he has never been 
connected with a failure. He is a man of sound business judgment 
and has prospered wonderfully in the accumulation of the goods 
of the world. He comes before the race with the prestige of suc- 
cess in everything with which he has ever been identified. He is 
not a pauper, seeking to gain wealth and honor at somebody else's 
loss, but he is a man that is in independent circumstances, and is 
considered by many people to be the wealthiest colored man in the 
State of Mississippi. There can be but little doubt of the asser- 
tion that the doctor alreadv has enough of this world's goods to 
enable him to live the remainder of his life without taking any part 
in any business enterprise of any character, but he is actuated by 
philanthropic motives for the race. He sees in this enterprise a 
great opportunity to advance the material welfare of the race, and 
he is determined to make the most of it. The doctor is a very 
determined man when he makes up his mind, and it is quite certain 
that he will exhaust every reasonable resource to sec the fruition of 
his plans. The financial resources of the doctor are sufficient to 
put the enterprise in operation at once, but in such a business there 
should be a community of interests instead of one predominant 
interest. The enterprise must be a monument to the CO operative 
business spirit of the race, and to the extent that the intelligent and 
self respecting members of the race become interested in the enter- 
prise will its ultimate success lie guaranteed. "In union there is 
strength." Here is the opportunity for colored men to invest their 
earnings so as to bring them Large returns and at the same time 
provide employment for thousands of men and women of the rac ;. 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 499 

His Personality. 

Dr. Brown is a very pleasant gentleman to meet; he is one of 
the most interesting conversationalists that one may have the pleas- 
ure of meeting, and is full of wit, common sense and philosophy. 
He is a man of ripe experience, and has profited therefrom as few 
men have. He is versed both in the knowledge of books and the 
knowledge of men, and each of these powers has the better qualified 
him for life. He is a master of English, and never lacks the word 
to express his progressive thoughts. If he were to devote any con- 
siderable part of his time to the production of literature, he would 
probably make a very valuable contribution thereto. He is a 
scholar and a practical man. He does not dream, nor is he wild and 
visionary, for he has achieved such a success in life as only the 
most wide-awake, progressive and energetic man could achieve in 
the course of an ordinary lifetime. He is a man of prepossessing 
appearance, and the magnitude of his physical self is thoroughly 
indicative of his powerful mind. He is a man of giant physique 
and gfant brain, and by the wise cultivation and use of both his 
physical and intellectual powers has he been able to mount the 
ladder to success, wealth and fame. 





500 DEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Rev. ('. J'. Jones, Jackson, Miss. 

P iSTOR of Christ's Temple. 

HE twentieth century is not only an era of reform in the 
governmental institutions of the world, but in the religi 
ous institutions as well. Reform along all lines seems 
to be in the air. and determined and consecrated nun arc 
blazing out from the beaten and dusty paths of decades and cen- 
turies and embracing new ideas and new beliefs, according to the 
truths that are revealed to them. The Negro race, if it be a race 
of original thinkers and investigators, must have its reformers along 
all lines, religious as well as political. The leaders of the race 
should not always be satisfied merely to join in the chorus of life, 
hut they must he men that are capable of thinking for themselves 
and acting for themselves, according to the dictates of their own 
conscience. Independence in thought is the basis of all true free- 
dom, and that man that acts in accordance with his revealed ideas 
of right is the man that is truly free. 

Ax Indepenoent Thinker. 

Rev. C. P. Jones, the consecrated gospel minister whose life 
story forms the burden of this brief narrative, is one of the great 
independent, religious thinkers of the world. He has dared to 
blaze out from hide-bound traditions and interpretations of the 
Bible and to give Holy Writ a meaning that had never been gener- 
ally given to it before. 

His Birthplace and Education. 

Rev. C. P. Jones is a native of Georgia, and was born near 
Rome. Floyd County, December 9. 1865. His early educational 

opportunities were poor, but in the year of 1888 he entered tin- 
Arkansas Baptist College Little Rock, and completed one or more 
of the courses in that well-known institution of learning. It may 
not be his honor to hold a diploma o\' graduation from any of the 
greal educational institutions of the land, but he is unquestionably 
one of the 1" Si educated men in America. 

1 [is Religious Beliefs. 
'I'h< writer does not feel that he is competent to give a char 

statement a-- to the religious beliefs of this great preacher and 

leader, but he believes that he can give some taint exposition of the 




REV. C. P. JONES 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

same tor the benefit of the readers of this hook. Rev. C. P. Jones 
very strictly construes the Bible, and believes every word in it. 
He believes in the direct answer to prayer and in the possibility of 
living a perfect life, even on this terrestrial ball. That is the main 
difference between him and others outside of his denomination. He 
has made enough progress along the road to heaven to know that 
lie can live and does live a sanctified life, and he believes that others 
can do the same if they but really consecrate themselves to the 
Master. He believes with unfaltering trust in the truths of the 
Bible and that on this earth a person can be free from actual sin 
it' he will live right on the Bible. Now, as to the ability of a person 
to consecrate himself to that extent, there is great doubt. It is 
more than probable that Reverend Jones lias made greater progress 
spiritually than the generality of people, and not that others can 
not do the same it' they truly surrender themselves, mind, soul and 
body. 

Has Gotten All by Prayer. 

The worthy, consecrated subject believes in prayer and its imme- 
diate answer, and for whatever he desires in this life he goes to 
God in prayer. He used to be worried about the church music and 
the indifference of his church and Sunday School musicians. He 
went to the Master and asked Him to confer upon him the gift of 
song, and it was done. He is now a great and capable song writer. 
composer and player, and he got his talent from above through the 
instrumentality of prayer. 

A Gifted Pre \> her. 

The subject is one of the greatesi preachers of the present day. 
and all that are so fortunate as to hear his wonderful preaching 
discourses will readily admit this fact, even if they are not in 
sympathy with his beliefs. He has great spiritual power, and is 
one of the most effective speakers of any country and any age. He 
knows the Bible from the beginning to the end. and makes its truths 
tli< real guide and inspiration of his life. He has an enormous 
following of Some of tin- best people in the South. For his remark- 
able preaching ability fully to be realized it is necessary to hear 
him preach, for it is better heard than told. 

A Clean Max. 

I hi subject is one man in th. pulpit concerning whom slander's 
tongue is paralyzed with silence. He is perfectly clean in every 
' ss ' ntial of life, and comes as near perfection as mortals usually 






BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 503 

come. He is also a practical man, and not a wild-eyed dreamer. 
He is a business man that knows how t<> look after the interests 
of his people. He is far from being a mere religious zealot, shut 
up in a cloister, but he is a perfectly rational and sane and practical 
man in every respect. 

An Able Man. 

The subject is an able man from whatever standpoint he may 
be viewed. He is an able orator, a great preacher, a splendid educa- 
tor, an inspired musician, a skillful financier and a first class all- 
round man. He treated the writer with marked courtesy while 
the writer was in the city of .Jackson. Miss., and among the pleas- 
ant recollections of his "Swing Around tin South," none was more 
pleasant than the writer's conference with Rev. ('. P. .Jones, the 
able leader and worthy spiritual father of Jackson. Miss. 



<1> 



5(14 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA( B 




h'n. W. A. Dinkins, ././>'., I). I).. Dublin, Georgia. 

ONVERTED at the age of seven, licensed to preach the 
gospel at the age of fifteen, admitted to the traveling 
connection at the age of seventeen, a presiding elder at 
the early aire of nineteen — these are but a tew of the 
golden links in the remarkable life chain of the subject of this 
sketch. Hew \V. A. Dinkins. of Dublin, Georgia, who was horn near 
Macon, Georgia, September I."). 1867- His father for forty years 
was a minister in the C. M. E. Church, and was one of the pioneers 
that blazed out the path and made it clear for the feet of the 
reverend son- that follow so faithfully and zealously therein. 



Ills Elementary School Life. 

The subject of this sketch first attended the village school at 
Fort Valley, Ga.. and subsequently a school at Perry. Ga.. which 
was taught by Dr. Duffy, a white friend of the race and a teacher 
in those early days. His experience in the two schools constituted 
the bulk of his elementary education up to that time. Rev. Dinkins 
was transferred by Bishop L. EL Holsey to the State of South 
Carolina at the early age of nineteen years, and was elevated to the 
presiding eldership of the Charleston District, where he labored 
tor one year, after which time he was transferred to the pastorate 
of Holsey's Temple. Augusta. Georgia, where he remained for rive 
years. 

A Graduate of Paine College. 

In connection with his higher educational training. Dr. Dinkins 
feels deeply grateful to his dear friend and spiritual head. Bishop 
I.. H. Holsey. who in the year of 1887 transferred him from a 
presiding eldership in the Palmetto State to a pastorate in the city 
of Augusta, Georgia, put him in touch with the educational life at 
Paine College, gave him the advantage of a classical education, and 
enabled him to receive his diploma from this grand old educational 
institution of the church. Thus for five years Rev. Dinkins rilled 
the dual relationship of pastor of Holsey's Temple and student 
of Paine College. He received his diploma ol' graduation from 
Paine College with the title of Bachelor of Arts in 1893. 



A\ A.CCOM PLISHED Ml -l« [AN. 

While a stud, nt ,-it Paine College he completed a four-year course 
in instrumental music and received a certificate of nrorieiencv for 
the same. He is an able musician, and ranks with the very best 
in the ranks of his denomination. On the occasion of the eradua- 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 







REV. \V. A. DINKINS, A. B., D. D. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

tion of liis class he plaved .-ill tin- music, and for six years he was 
the official organist of the Georgia State Conference. 

A Great Work in Savannah. 

In the year of 1897 he succeeded Dr. I. S. Person as pastor of 
St. Paul Church. Savannah, (la., and accomplished there one of the 
greatest results of his event fid life. In the memorable revival 
which he carried on in that city over five hundred souls were gath- 
« red into the fold of the Master. Also, in that city he proved 
himself an able financier by raising the sum of $2,175 in a single 
year. From the year of 1898 until 1902 he was Presiding Elder 
over various districts in the State of Georgia. While acting as 
pastor of the church at Fort Valley, Ga.. in the year 1902, he added 
.'■S75 members to the church. 

The Founder or Harriet Holsey Normal and Industrial 

School. 

One of the greatest works in the life of Dr. Dinkins was the 
founding of the Dublin Normal and Industrial School in 1905. It 
is now known as the Harriet Holsey Normal and Industrial School, 
in honored remembrance of the sainted wife of his best friend. 
Bishop L. H. Holsey. The school is a fine two-story, tight-room 
building, and has in connection with the building about thirty 
acres of land, the whole educational plant being valued at $15,000. 

A Life of Great Service. 

It has been the fortune of very few men of the race to have led 
a life of greater service and greater usefulness to his people than 
lias Dr. Dinkins. For fifteen years he taught in the schools of the 
State of Georgia, and he has the honor of being one of' the few 
colored teachers in the State of Georgia that holds a State license. 
For fifteen years he has been editor of the Christian 11- raid of 
Dublin, the official organ of the denomination in the State, and a 
paper of wide influence and extensive circulation. Twice was he 
honored with election to the general conferences of his church. For 
six years he was President of the Epworth League of the State 
of Georgia. During his long and useful career as a minister he 

has added to the church seven thousand members, built and improved 

forty-seven churches and founded one school. He is Secretary 
of the farmers' Home Company of Augusta, Ga. This company 

has in its char-v over six thousand acres of land, and has for its 
object the establishment of the firs! Congressional Industrial School 



BEA(<>.\ LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



507 




REV. W. A. DINKINS AND ( HI 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



m 



the State of Georgia. He is a Master Mason and also a inem- 



6 



her of the Odd Fellows and the Knijjhts of Pythias 



- 



A Family of Preachers. 

There is something remarkable about the original Dinkins fam- 
ily. The father himself was one of the pioneer ministers of the 
C. M. E. Church, and each of the six sons is a preacher, rive of 
the sons being Methodist and one a Baptist minister. 

The Recipient of a Great Honor. 

Dr. Dinkins has been the recipient of honors. On account of 
his great ability and scholarly attainments, Morris Brown Colle^' 
of Atlanta, Ga., conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor 
of Divinity. This honor can be the more appreciated when it is 
remembered that the college in question is one of the colleges of the 
African Methodist Episcopal Church, and not one of his own 
connection. 

His Energetic and Devoted Wife. 

In the year of 1885 the subject of this sketch was fortunate in 
gaining the heart and hand of Miss Mamie Collins of Perry, Ga. 
She was a student of Atlanta University, and has been a teacher for 
the greater part of her life. If there ever was a man blessed with a 
good wife Dr. Dinkins considers himself to be that man. His 
loving wife has helped to make him what he is. and he cheerfully 
gives all the credit to his wife for his success. Dr. Dinkins believes 
that all men should appreciate, respect, care tor and love their 
wives, and lie perfectly willing to carry out in good faith the sacred 
promises that were made at the altar, both in the presence of man 
and of Ciod. He has correct ideas of moral principles and is uncom- 
promisingly opposed to what is wrong, both in precept and exam- 
ple. He does not believe that the race can ever reach its highest 
plane of development until the men of the race respect, love and 
honor their faithful and loving companions. Mrs. Dinkins is still 
working hard in the cause of education, and is the mainstay of the 
Harriet Holsey Normal and Industrial School. 

Their Talented Daughter. 

Their daughter. Miss Mamie F. Dinkins. is a graduate of Haven 
Home Institute. Savannah, Ga. She is a talented musician, and 
studied music in the city of Savannah and at the Boston Conserva 
tory of Music. Boston. Mass. She was in charge of the music at 
Harriet Holsev Normal and Industrial School, but recently she was 



BE ACQS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 






elected as teacher and music director in the city schools of Augusta, 
Ga.j .1 position of honor and responsibility. 

An Estimate. 

Dr. Dinkins has been a hard worker all of his life, and he is 
none the less today. Viewed from any standard. Dr. Dinkins may 
be considered a successful man. He is a great preacher, a gifted 
lecturer, an experienced editor, a good pastor, an able musician, a 

noted financier, and an untiring worker in all the worthy channels 
of race activity. He has prospered from the material standpoint 
of the world, and has accumulated properties to the value of ten 
thousand dollars. Dr. Dinkins is a high class Christian gentleman 
and worthy of the highest honors of his branch of the Christian 
( lmrch. 




510 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

J. W. San ford, Jr., Memphis, Tenn. 
Contractor and Bi/ildf.r. 




T IS a sweeping criticism from outside sources that the 
Negro race is lacking in enterprise and push. While 
there mav be some degree of truth in this statement, vet 
there are in the ranks of the race countless examples of 
genuine, indomitable, American push which have been rewarded 
with the greatest degree of success. Push is the motive power that 
runs the wheels of success, and when combined with character and 
intelligence it is one of the superlative qualities of life. It is a 
source of pleasure to present to the reading public a member of the 
race that represents the highest type of push, energy and success. 
From his earliest boyhood days he exhibited a degree of enterprise 
and push that was remarkable and which unerringly pointed to his 
subsequent success and prosperity. 

Born in Tennessee. 

Mr. J. W. Sanford, the worthy subject of this sketch, is a native 
son of Tennessee, and was born in Covington, July 29j 1 S(r2. His 
parents and relatives are some of the leading citizens of Tipton 
County. His father, Mr. J. W. Sanford, Sr., owns 300 acres of 
land, and his brother. Mr. P. B. Sanford, has in his own right an 
acreage quite as great. 

His Literary Training. 

The subject first attended the common schools of Tipton County, 
and subsequently I.eMoyne Normal Institute. Memphis. Tenn.. 
where he completed his academic training. While in school he 
was the same energetic, breezy, pushing student that he is now a 
business man. With him study was a matter of business rather than 
sentiment. He has always been a practical man and not a dreamer, 
and his object in going to school was to get the strongest possible 
preparation for success in life. 

Ai.u \"\ - I ,o\ ed Hi- II \ ti iiet. 

The subject seems to have inherited a love for carpentry, for he 
has been engaged in it from the days of his boyhood. When a 
mere child around home he did all of the hammering, sawing and 
nailing that was necessary, aivl thus early gave evidence of talent-, 
ill the highest order in the business thai is now his life work. He 
has been actively engaged in the contracting business ever since he 
was sixteen years old. In his early career he built nearly every 

bridge and nearly everv school house in his home eountv. and was 






DEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




J. W. SANFORD. JR. 



512 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

really the most active young carpenter that Tipton County ever 
had. 

MovEn to Memphis in 1890. 

The subject moved to the city of Memphis in 1890, largely 
because of the greater opportunities tor success in his business. 
He brought with him to that city that same marvelous push that 
has characterized him wherever he has labored, and his success in 
the city of Memphis lias justified the wisdom of his course in locat- 
ing in Memphis. He took a leading rank among the members of 
his craft from the very beginning, and has held the had to this 
day. He has erected a greater number of buildings in the city of 
Memphis than any other contractor of his race, and there are few 
of the oldest contractors of the dominant race that have been so 
successful in this respect as he. 

The Busiest Contractor in Memphis. 

It is no exaggeration to state that the subject is the busiest con- 
tractor of the race in the city of Memphis. He employs regularly 
several different building crews under expert foremen, and is thus 
able to execute at the same time several different contracts. His 
building operations are not confined to the city of Memphis, but 
they embrace the States of Tennessee. Arkansas and Mississippi. 
He is the leading contractor for many of the white architects of 
.Memphis, and he has erected a great number of the most substan- 
tial buildings in Memphis. His resources for carrying out his 
c ntractural obligations are unlimited, and lie is prepared to make 
a hid tor the erection of anything that comes in the range of his 
knowledge. 

A Big Property Owxer. 

Mr. .1. W. San ford. Jr.. has made his success by his own efforts. 
He has literally hammered and cut his way to fame and fortune. 
A first-class carpenter should be known not only by his chips, as the 
< Id saying goes, but he should be known by his material success. 
The subject has ascended tin- ladder of success as rapidly as am 

in in the history of Memphis. Each year has witnessed a sub 
Stantial increase in his holdings of realty, until now he is one of the 
largest property holders in the city of Memphis. He is the owner 
of thirty-three pieces of property in the city of Memphis, whose 
value is conservatively estimated at $65,000. In addition to this 
realty he is a land nabob in his ownership of farm lands. In the 
neighborhood of Covington, Trim., he owns 170 acres of farm 
land, his tirst piece of realty. At Jericho, Arkansas, he owns 120 
acres of fertile farm land. At Terrell. Arkansas, he owns 540 
acres of the list land, and on President's Island. Tennessee, he 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 513 

owns 800 acres of valuable Land. Thus it may be seen that the 
subject owns nearly 1,200 acres of the best farming land of the 
South. A man whose push and energy have enabled him to accumu 
late goods of this world to an amount exceeding $100,000 has done 
much that should inspire the youth of the race, and is one of tin 
best examples of raee success. 

I lis Devoted Wife. 

Very few members of the race have given a better account of 
themselves than the subject of this sketch, but he has had the 
inspiration and devotion of his estimable wife to assist him. In 
the year of 1888 it was the good fortune of the subject to win the 
heart and hand of Miss I.. A. Burchett of Mason. Term., and lead 
her to the altar as his bride. She comes from one of the best fami- 
lies in Tipton County, ami is a woman of culture and refinement. 
She was given good educational advantages by her parents, and 
completed her education at Fisk University, Nashville, Tcnn. She 
is an ideal companion and mother, and has no higher aspiration in 
life than the welfare and happiness of her children and devoted 
husband. 

Their Children. 

The married life of the subject and his wife has been blessed 
with two children. Miss Marie A. Sanford and Master O. C. F. 
Sanford. They are two fortunate youths, for they have been given 
every advantage to prepare themselves for life. The daughter is a 
student of Oberlin College, and the son a member of Wilher force 
University. They have many of the admirable qualities of their 
worthy parents, and with their splendid educational advantages it 
is not unreasonable to expect them to be the flower of the manhood 
and womanhood of the race. 

His Personality. 

The subject is innately one of the most pleasant and one of the 
most affable men of the raee. If he had taken a post graduate 
course in a school of politeness he could not be naturally more 
polite than he is. Success and wealth have not affected him. and 
he is the same congenial, hearty, unaffected man that he ever was. 
He has a welcome hand, a cheerful smile and a cordial greeting tor 
everv one. and this personal charm of character has been a valu- 
able asset to his success. He is one of the best business men of the 
race, and his counsel and experience are invaluable in business 
matters. He has a host of friends that rejoice because of his suc- 
cess, for they know him to be one of the most energetic and one 
of the most deserving of men. 




514 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

W. A. Attaway, M.J)., Greenville, Miss. 

President of Delta Penny Savings Hank and President of 
Mississippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company. 

N THESE modern days of business rivalry, commercial 
activity and fierce competition lor the mastery, a great 
deal is being proclaimed to the world about the wizards 
of commerce and the Napoleons of finance, that are so 
numerous in the ranks of the dominant race, but seldom has any- 
thing been heralded to the world concerning the financial genius and 
commercial achievements of the business and financial marvels that 
are in the ranks of the Negro race. It can not be confidently 
asserted that any race has a mortgage on intelligence or a monopoly 
of either vice or virtue. All the races of mankind have a common 
inheritance in the bountiful storehouse of genius, whether this 
legacy be the mastery of finance or the understanding of the eco- 
nomic problems that govern the progress of the world's civilization. 
Great as are the wonderful achievements of the Anglo-Saxon 
race in the domain of finance, yet when the commercial opportunities 
of the white and black races are considered, the record of the lead- 
ing financiers of the Negro race is indeed highly creditable, and 
when set over in comparison with that of the able financiers of the 
white race, it suffers no disparagement. 

The Financial Marvel of Mississippi. 

The State of Mississippi stands pre-eminent in the number and 

character of able financiers in the ranks of the Negro race. In no 

other State of the Federal Union has the race made such marvelous 

progress along material lines. That State stands unapproachable 

in the business and financial world of the race. Already has the 

race organized and put in operation in that State at least a dozen 

banks, and with each passing year other banks are being established 

to keep step to the music of progress. Right in the center of the 

l.usiness and financial stage, guiding and directing the financial 

poleies of the race, is that prince of business men and that financial 

marvel. Dr. W. A. Attaway. whose successful achievements in tin 

domain of finance entitle him to unapproachable leadership in the 

commercial world ol the race. 

A Young Man in the Prime of Life. 

Dr. Attaway has been a factor in the business and financial life 
of the State of MlSSisippi for Several years, yet he is still a young 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



515 



man, in the very prime of life. It is an old maxim thai a man 
hardly thinks an original though! before he has attained to the age 
of thirty-rive years. It' the subject of this sketch succeeded in 




DR. W. A. ATTAWAY 



accomplishing so many stupendous things before he had attained 

to that historic aire, what wonders may he not hope to accomplish 
long ere he will have attained to the age of forty. At the very ag 



516 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

when other men have begun to be able to think, this able doctor and 
business man lias long since made his mark in the business world. 
H«- has been tried iii the crucible of business responsibility, and he 
has demonstrated to the world that he is pure gold. His success as a 
business promoter in the State of Mississippi nearly staggers belief, 
and no other member of the race has been endowed with the same 
degree of confidence to bring to a successful conclusion such gigantic 
undertakings. 

"One Man Power" the Guioing Principle of Success. 

It has been the experience of most of the successful business 
institutions of the world that they have been a monument to the 
brain, brawn and even blood of some one man. who either volun- 
tarily or involuntarily held the scepter of power as in the hollow 
of his hand. Dr. Attaway has every requesite tor intelligent and 
successful leadership, and the business ventures with which he is 
connected are easily the most successful in the State of Mississippi. 
He does not preach the doctrine of "one man power.'" but he is 
conversant with the fact that the gigantic business institutions 
whose success has been most pronounced in tin business lite of the 
nation were essentially a one-man affair, and that their success was 
gained at the expense of mainly one man's strenuous efforts, and 
often at the sacrifice of some one man's life. 

Tin: Negro Wizaru ok Insurance. 

The subject of this sketch is the honored President of the Mis- 
sissippi Beneficial Life Insurance Company, a company that is 
chartered under the laws of Mississippi. ,nid is now operating in all 
sections of the State. The insurance company in question is the 
result of the brain, finance and confidence of Dr. W. A. Attaway. 
who was willing to blaze out the path to success in this novel 
business venture and. if necessary, sacrifice himself trying to pro- 
mote the business welfare of the race. The Mississippi Beneficial 
Life Insurance Company is the only institution of its kind in the 
civilized world, for it is the only insurance company operated by 
the Negro race that is now writing all kinds of old line life insur- 
ance policies. The President of this company has studied the life 
insurance business as has no other man iii tlie ranks of the race. 
and he is acquainted with that business from (\ery possible angle. 
He is a veritable wizard in the Negro insurance world, and is 
destined to share with those mighty pioneers that preceded him the 
greatest j^lory that can he bestowed upon him hv a grateful peop 



|>le 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 517 

Quit a Practice of $10,000 \ Year. 

That the subject has great faith in the possibilities of the insur- 
ance business with his people is demonstrated by the fact that he 
has voluntarily abandoned the most lucrative practice in the State 

of Mississippi in order to devote his whole time to the develop- 
ment of the insurance business. It is a matter of common knowl- 
edge that the practice of Dr. Attaway. while he was regularly 
engaged, netted him an average of $10,000 per annum. A man 
must have perceived wonderful possibilities outside of a profession 
which paid him an average of $10,000 per annum. 

Great in Every Department of Excellence. 

Dr. Attaway is a great man in every department of human 
excellence. He is one of the greatest physicians of the Southland; 
he is a great business promoter and business man ; lie is the premier 
insurance magnate of the century; he is great in his conceptions 
for the welfare of the race. He has made good as have few men 
in the ranks of the Negro race, and he has resolved to continue 
until he will have realized the one consuming ambition of his life. 

His Personality. 

The subject of this sketch is a business man of the first magni- 
tude, and his mere word stands for as much as that of any other 
man in the State of Mississippi. He is the central figure in the 
most colossal combination of capital that has ever been gotten 
together in the State, and this combination of capital is but a faint 
testimonial of the appreciation in which his remarkable business 
talents are held by his admirers and friends. Dr. Attaway is a 
sane business man, or he never would have accumulated in his own 
right such a competency for life. He has already accumulated a 
considerable quantity of the goods of this world, and is prepared 
for the proverbial rainy day. Hut he is not seltish in his ambition 
to gain wealth, for he is anxious tor the whole race to be bene- 
ficiaries of the blessings which universal insurance will brinir. not 
onlv to the Negro race, but to mankind in general. The Mississippi 
Beneficial Life Insurance Company sends its greetings to the read- 
ers of this volume, and its honored President and General Manager, 
Dr. \V. A. Attaway. hopes to he able to serve the wants of his people 
just as soon as the superior merits of his company are generally 
know n. 



r ;> 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



Prof. ./. //. Blount, Forrest City, Ark. 

Educator and Planter Secretary-Treasurer .Masonu 

Benefit Assoi cation. 

MONG the many able, useful and serviceable men in the 
ranks of the race that have contributed most to its devel- 
opment^ growth and prosperity along educational, moral 
and material lines in the State of Arkansas there are 

indeed few to whom greater credit should be given than to Prof. 

J. H. Blount, of Forrest City, Ark. Having obeyed the injunction 





PROF. .1 H. lU.OFNT 



of the Lamented Horace Greeley to "go West and grow up with the 
country." lit cpiit his native State of (ieorgia and went to the State 
of Arkansas to seek lame and fortune. Though a mere youth when 
lie first touched the soil of the State of Arkansas. In had all of the 

courage, hardihood and determination of the adventurous pioneer 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 519 

in a virgin country, and he has not only grown up with the country 

in both letter and spirit, hut lie lias prospered and made an honor- 
able name for himself and his posterity. 

His N vtivity and Parents. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the State of Georgia, 

and was horn at Clinton, near Macon, September 17. I860. His 
father, who is still living, was one of the fin< si general mechanics 
of his time. Madison Blount, his father, owns a farm of 1<><> acres 
in the State of Georgia, and is respected far and near as one of the 
most representative citizens of the race. 

1 1 is Educ \tii>\ :. 

Prof. Blount is a man of liberal educational attainments, and 
for many years he has been recognized as one of the Leading educa- 
tors of the State of Arkansas. His elementary education was 
received in the common schools of the State of Georgia, but his 
higher educational training was received at Walden University, in 
whose classic walls he was a student for seven years. He also took 
courses of instruction in summer at Chicago University. 

His Career as a Schoolm vster. 

Early in life Prof. Blount took up the serious responsibilities 

of a schoolmaster. His first feeble efforts as an educator in embryo 
need not be elaborated upon at this time. Suffice it to state that 
his regular and creditable experience as a teacher began in the year 
of 1884, while he was a student of Walden University. For over 
a quarter of a century he has been connected with the public schools 
of the State of Arkansas in a teaching capacity, and for twenty- 
two years he was regularly engaged as principal of the public 
schools at Forrest City. Hot Springs and Texarkana. 

One ok the Leading Institute and Normal Conductors. 

That Prof. Blount has always stood high in the estimation of 
the educational powers of the State of Arkansas is evidenced by the 
many official honors that have been conferred upon him by them. 
In the years when the Legislature of the State used to be so generous 
with its appropriations for summer normal school purposes and for 
teachers' institutes. Prof. Blount was one of the hading educators 
in charge of those summer normal schools and institutes. So highly 
were his professional services appreciated in St. Francis County, 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

his home county, th.it he was the recognized examiner of the colored 
teachers of that county for ten years. 

Teaching a Labob of Love. 

It is generally known throughout the State of Arkansas th it 
Prof. Blount is one of the wealthiest teachers in the State, and the 
result is that there is considerable speculation among many people 
as to why he persists in continuing to labor in the school room when 
there are for him far greater financial rewards outside of the 
school room. If he were to spend his entire time developing and 
managing his vast landed interests, it is more than probable that 
he would realize in the course of a year his school room salary ten 
or twenty-fold. But Prof. Blount is actuated by a higher motive 
than that of mere dollars and cents in continuing to serve the wel- 
fare of his people in the school room. With him the profession 
of teaching is a labor of love. The almighty dollar influences him 
not, for in continuing to teach school he is really making a sacrifice 
instead of a gain of dollars; but it is his love for the work and his 
earnest desire to do good for the race that cause him to continue 
to pull in pedagogical harness. Prof. Blount is not of a grasping, 
avaricious nature, nor does he consider the dollar as the sum total of 
human existence. He realizes that there is a serious responsibility 
devolving upon the educated colored man of the South, and that 
it is the bounden duty of the educated colored man to do his part 
in the great work of uplifting his benighted people. Personally he 
is in practically independent circumstances, but it has ever been 
his earnest desire to lift others up with him while he was climbing. 
He considers the educational advantages that he has received as i 
dispensation from Providence to enable him to help his strufffflinff 
and benighted people, and for this reason he has found the attrac- 
tion of service and hard work in the school room to be greater than 
any other attraction in lite. 

His Political Experience. 

In the many experiences of his long and eventful career it has 
fallen to his lot to take a prominent part in polities. While he is 
not such an active partisan that lie would be willing to abandon his 
business for political activity, yet he believes that every intelligent 
and thoughtful citizen should exercise every vested right under the 
constitution of the land. At one time he was prominent in political 

affairs in his State, and rendered the Cause that he espoused his best 

and most effective efforts, lor eighl years h,- was honored with 
tli' chairmanship of the Republican County Committee, and for 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 521 

ten years he was the honored Secretary of the same committee. He 

was alternate delegate t<> the National Republican Convention that 
nominated Roosevelt and Fairbanks for the presidency and \ r ice- 
presidency of the United States. 

A Thirty-Third Degree Mason. 

For many years the subject of tins sketch has enjoyed the dis 
tinction of being one of the highest Masons in the State of Arkan- 
sas. That he has zealously studied and been loyal to the cause of 
Masonry is evidenced by the fact that he has climbed the Masonic 
ladder until he has. figuratively speaking, reached the thirty-third 
round. At present he is one of the only two thirty-third degree 
Masons in the State of Arkansas. 

Secretary-Treasurer of the Masonic Benefit Association. 

The versatile subject of this sketch has served in nearly every 
minor official capacity in the ranks of the Masonic fraternity, and 
for four years he served as Deputy Grand Master of the State. 
At present he is fillin<r the responsible office of Secretary-Treasurer 
of the Masonic Benefit Association of his State. In the State of 
Arkansas there are about five thousand Masons, and in the ranks 
of that fraternity are found many of the leading men of the State. 
The order pays an endowment of $200. As financial official of 
this endowment fund Prof. Blount collected and disbursed for the 
fiscal year of 1910, $26,973.05. 

His Accomplished and Devoted Wife. 



The 2'2d day of August, 1006*. will ever he memorable in the life 
of Prof. J. H. Blount, for on that day benign Providence enabled 
him to make one of the master strokes of his life. Better than his 
thirtv-tliird degree Masonrv, and far better than his broad and fer- 
tile acres of land was the blessing that he received when he led to 
the altar Miss Almira J. Payne of Holly Springs, Miss. She was 
the talented daughter of Rev. A. D. Pavne and wife, of Hollv 
Springs, Miss. Her lamented father was one of the ministers of 
tin- Methodist Episcopal Church of Mississippi. Mrs. Almira J. 
Blount is a graduate of the academic and nurse training depart 
ments of Bust University, Hollv Springs, Miss., and she had the 
honor of teaching in the classic walls of her alma mater tor two 
year--. That she has been a source of encouragement and blessing 
to her worthy husband is evidenced by the fact that their union 
has already been blessed with two boys, Josiah Homer Blount and 
Scott Bond Blount. Mrs. Hlount is a woman of culture and refine 
ment. and is an ideal companion for her able and popular husband. 



: 22 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




MRS. J, H. ULiiVNT 



BEACOS I.I' HI I > <>E THE RACE 



523 



Their Splendid Home. 

Situated in the suburbs of Forresl City is the magnificent and 
pretentious-looking home of Prof, and Mrs. J. [I. Blount. It is a 
commodious two-story frame residence, built close to the right of 
way of the Rock Island Railroad, and located on an elevation that 
is as commanding as it is beautiful. The home of Prof. Blount 
was erected at a total cost of $5,000, and it is easily tin mosl sub 




RESITE-NCE OF J. H. BLOUNT 

stantial and the most palatial residence in that part of St. Francis 
C'ountv. The mighty baronial castles of mediaeval times were not 
more magnificently located for a commanding view of the country 
for miles around. His residence is the cynosure of all eyes, and is 
a source of wonder and admiration to all classes, whites and blacks 
alike, the country around. 

The Owner of Nearly a Section of Land. 

Prof. Blount is one of the prominent land holders of St. Francis 
County, and owns in his right nearly a section of land. Much of 
this land is of great value, and the whole could not be purchased 
for less than $45,000, if at .all. In addition to his vast acres of 
land, lit has improved property in Forrest City and T« xarkana. 
Ark. If he had aspired to be rich instead of useful, he might have 



524 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

easily been Long ere this time the wealthiest colored man in the 
eastern part of Arkansas, lint he has preferred to circumscribe 
his activities largely to the school room and do his best to promote 
race advancement, rather than individual financial success. 

Liberal Provision for His Children. 

The real character of Prof. Blount is seen in the admirable 
provision that he has made for the welfare of his children. He 
has departed from the beaten paths that have been so long trodden 
by the fathers of the race, and has resolved to put the future welfare 
of his children beyond any possibility of want and protection. For 
their special benefit he has invested heavily in life insurance policies. 
He has already invested in $10,000 worth of insurance, and it is 
his intention shortly to invest in as much more for the same pur- 
pose. Verily, it pays to have a far-sighted and sagacious father, 
lor in this material age there is no harm in being born with a set 
of silver spoons in one's mouth. 

One of the Most Popular Men in Arkansas. 

There is not a man in the State of Arkansas that is more widely 
and more favorably known than Prof. J. H. Blount of Forrest City. 
He is a popular fraternity man, and is connected more or less with 
all of the most prominent fraternal organizations of his State. He 
is actively engaged in church and Sunday School work. He is one 
of the veteran educators of his State, and seems to have dedicated 
the best and most conscientious energies of his life to the profession 
of teaching. He is an affable, congenial and unassuming man. and 
enjoys universal appreciation and confidence. He is one of the 
most versatile men in the State, and he has served the interests of 
the race as have lew other men. Success has crowned his efforts 
in the past and the future will hut the more emphatically bestow 
upon him the rewards and glories which an honorable, upright 
and useful life will alwavs merit. 



W 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 
1). />'. Miller, M.D.. Memphis, Tenn. 




N ALL the ages of Christian civilization, wisdom bas been 
associated with the Orient. In biblical days the wise 
men are said to have come from the East to Jerusalem 
to inquire concerning the new-horn king of the Jews, 
for they had beheld his star in the East and they had come to 
worship him. In this brief life story there is a reversal of all 
historic precedent concerning the East as the inspiration and source 
of all wisdom, for it is now the honor of the great North to present 
one of its native sons to shine in that illustrious galaxy. lor the 
purposes of this narrative, this worthy representative of the North 
is none other than that prince of popular favor and that smiling 
representative of sunshine. Dr. Dublin B. Miller. 

Only Pennsylvania Produces His Like. 

The affable and kindly subject of this sketch is a native of the 
great State of Pennsylvania, and smiled his first infant smile in 
Pittsburg. Allegheny County, in the year of umphty imphty. He 
is a typical son of the North, for he has brought to this benighted 
Southern region much of that hustling, energetic, never-say-die spirit 

that is characteristic of the people of the "Keystone State." 

One of the Scholars of the Hack. 

The worthy physician whose life story is here told is one of the 
shining stars in the educational firmament of the race. He has 
enioyed every educational advantage and is really one of the best 
educated men of the race. He is an alumnus of Lincoln University, 
from which institution of learning he also received his degree of 
Master of Arts. 

A Graduate in Theology. 

Not only is the worthy doctor a graduate of the classical depart- 
ment of Lincoln University, but he is also an alumnus of the theo- 
logical department of that same institution. He received his diploma 
of graduation in the year of 1895. He is thus qualified to look 
after both the intellectual and the spiritual side of linregem r at. 
man. 

Wore the Prince Albert of the Pedagogue. 

Among the many responsibilities in the life oi the doctor that 
have enabled him to serve well the cause of humanity, he takes 



526 



BEACON LI (HITS OF THE RACE 



great pleasure from the fact that he was a schoolmaster in the 
State- of Virginia for several years. For four years he was Principal 




DR. D. B. MILLER 



of the public school at Martinville, Va.. and his successful record 
in the teachers' profession thoroughly demonstrated the fact that 
he is a man that is as versatile in ability as lie is useful in service. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 527 

A Graduate in Medicine. 

The subject is a doctor of the flesh as well as a doctor of the 
.spirit, and thus in each capacity he can do his part in the great 
plan of elevating and uplifting the Negro race. He is not only .1 
graduate of one of the leading colleges in the North, but he is a 
graduate of Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn., and he 
bears from that well-known medical institution his diploma certify- 
ing to his ability to go out in life and relieve the ills and miseries 
of suffering humanity. He was well prepared to succeed in the 
practice of the medical profession, for his thorough educational 
training had prepared a solid foundation for the understanding of 
medical truths. 

Located in Memphis, Texx. 

As soon as the doctor had graduated from Meharry Medical 
College, he instinctively came to Memphis to locate. He was not 
such a plutocrat when he first arrived in the city of Memphis as he 
is now, for he had to borrow the money with which to pay his board. 
Without tedious elaboration of details, it will suffice to state that 
the doctor made good from the first week of his locating in the 
Bluff City, and that his medical star has been in the ascendant 
ever since he first hung out his shingle in the northeastern part of 
Memphis. 

Has Flourished in Memphis. 

The doctor's success, professionally and financially, in the city 
of Memphis has been phenomenal, and it is doubtful if any other 
physician has ever risen more rapidly in the accumulation of the 
goods of this world. He never had the usual "starving time" of 
the average physician, but he at once jumped into popular favor. 
He is a first-class medical man from every standpoint, .and his finan- 
cial success is a monument to his unusual medical ability, as well 
as to his affability. In his short professional career in Memphis 
he has accumulated some very valuable property, and he is now 
rated a strong man in the community. 

A Popular Physician. 

Dr. Miller has a blanket mortgage on popularity, for he is easily 
one of the most lovable and one of the most popular physicians in 
Memphis. Though a college graduate, he is a man that is simplicity 
personified. He is a favorite in all circles, and everybody is glad 
to meet him and be the recipient of his hearty handshake and cheer- 
ful greeting. He has a bright future in Memphis, and the dax 
is not far distant when he will be anion-- the first men of Memphis 
in point of material resources. 



- 



UEACOS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



Mrs. Lillian L. .Smith. Denver, Colorado. 

President and Missionary of the Woman's Baptist Home \ni> 
Foreign Missionary Society of Colorado. 

() CAUSE involving the welfare and salvation of humanity 
can well succeed without the cheerful and consecrated 
efforts of woman. In .-ill ages of the world women have 
worked^ prayed and made every possible sacrifice for the 
cause of human progress and the evangelization of the world, and 
they .are today more potential in the affairs of the world than ever 
In fore. 




' 




MRS. LILLIAN L. SMITH 



( onsecrated servic< is the noblest contribution that one can make 
to human society, and that man or that woman that dedicates self 
to the cause of the uplift and advancement of humanity has done 
all that it is possible tor a human being to do. This is tin brief 
life story of a cooperated woman, who has dedicated her life to the 
cause of humanity, instead of to her own personal welfare. She is 
a member of that valiant and invincible host of women that are 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 529 

determined to do something for the expansion and upbuilding of 
God's kingdom on earth and for this reason she is a beacon Qghl 
that is shedding its refulgent rays across the whole Christian world. 

\ VTIV II Y. 

.Mrs. Lillian L. Smith, the noble and self-sacrificing woman whose 
life story forms the burden of this narrative, is a native of the city 
oi Memphis, Tennessee, and first saw the glories of this mundane 
• xistence October S. 1ST t. 

Heh Education. 

Her education was brought to an untimely vud at the age of 
fourteen years on account of the ill health of her widowed mother, 
but she never became discouraged in her ambition to study and 
prepare for a serviceable and useful career. What she has lacked 
in the way of educational opportunities the heavenly Father has 
made up in an earnest desire on her part to serve the welfare of 
humanity, and thus the law of human compensation is in evidence 
in her case. 

COXVKHTEO AT NINETEEN. 

The religious life of the subject began with her conversion at. 
the age of nineteen, at which time she was baptized into the Heale 
Street Baptist Church of Memphis, Tenn. Having married in the 
same year to James Edward Smith of Holly Springs, Miss., she, with 
her devoted husband, mined to Kansas and united with the Pilgrim 
Baptist Church, which was then under the pastorate of Rev. R. X. 
Countee, formerly of Memphis. While in her new Western home 
she soon became interested in home mission work, and was one of 
the first to assist in the organization and founding of the Old Folks 
and Orphans' Home for Colored People, which has grown into a 
substantia] institution of benevolence for the race for which it 
was built. 

Ix tiu: Service ok the Master. 

Some years ago the joyful intelligence was brought to her thai 
-he had been elected to the responsible position of State Missionary 
for the women oi' Colorado. She has served in that exalted capacity 
for four years, and has not only done a great work for the cause 
of religion, but she has eontributo d greatly to the social and economic 
uplift of her benighted peopli in the State of (Olorado. Hers has 
been a life of serious responsibility, and only the Maker of us 
all knows what she has experienced in her efforts to bring the 
blessings of Christian light and comfort to the weak and lowly 
in the benighted mining regions of her State. She is away from 
the comforts of' hom< a great deal of tin time, roughing it over the 



530 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

mountains and in the mining camps of her State, but she feels that 
she is doing the veil] of the Master, and sin- is happy to persevere 
in her responsible work until her mission will have been accom- 
pli- lied. To be a missionary in the mountain wilds of Colorado and 
a helpless, unprotected woman is not an insignificant responsibility, 
and it is only by the encouragement and guidance of the Master that 
she has been able to accomplish such a wonderful amount of good. 

The Acthor of a Book of Poems. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the worthy subject of this sketch 
makes no pretensions to being a woman of education, yet she has 
made a very valuable contribution to the literature of the race. 
Many a highly educated woman would consider it an honor to have 
accomplished along literary lines what the subject has already 
accomplished. She has written and put on the reading market a 
booklet entitled "Out of the Depths/' which shows natural poetic 
talent of a high order. The language of the poems is surprisingly 
correct, and in every poetic essential the book is worthy of perusal. 
There is a breath of confidence and hope permeating her various 
selections that is really refreshing and uplifting, and anybody will 
be well repaid for giving her book a careful perusal. 

Ax Extract From Oxe of Her Letters. 

"You asked me to give you some special points of interest in 
my life. I don't know anything more than that my life has been 
a severe struggle with poverty and every contaminating element 
that tends to keep one down. Some people delight in calling them- 
selves self-made when they have overcome some difficulty or achieved 
something worthy without the advantages of school and favorable 
environment, but I deem it an injustice to God as well as ungrateful- 
ness to make an assertion of this kind. If I am anything at all I owe 
it all to Him. So. instead of calling myself self-made 1 call myself 
'God made.'" This extract from the Letter of the subject of this 
sketch is the keynote to her character, and is the best proof that 
can be adduced to show that she is a deserving, useful, consecrated 
< hristian woman. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RA / 531 

J. II. Usher, Jericho. Ark. 
Planter, Merchant and Postmaster. 




HAT there is a great future for the Negro race in tins 
beautiful Southland; and that the race lias its greatest 
opportunities for growth, development and the accumu- 
lation of wealth in the South can not be denied by those 

who are in position to know the actual tacts as they exist in the 
South today. Jn traveling over the Southern section of the United 
States there is hardly a hamlet, village or town that does not have 
representatives of the Negro race in fair and often affluent cir- 
cumstances. In spite of the many racial wars and rumors of wars 
that are supposed to take place in this Southland, it is the garden 
spot of hope for the Negro race, for it has made in that particular 
section a progress along material and other lines that staggers all 
belief. 

It gives the writer no small degree of pleasure to present to 
the readers of this book the brief life story of a number of the 
race who has really done something worthy of recording. He has 
taken advantage of the opportunities as he has found them, and 
has built himself from the very ground up to a position of influence, 
power and honor among his fellowmen. 

Born in Georgia. 

Mr. J. H. Usher, the subject of this narrative, is a native of 
Georgia, the Empire State of the South, and he was born in the 
vicinity of Covington, June 51, 1864. Early in his youthful life 
his parents moved from the State of Georgia to the State of Missis- 
sippi, where he grew to man's estate. 

Literary Training. 

The worthy subject was educated in the common schools of 
Corinth. Miss. In addition to his elementary training he has a 
special natural training that is not found in ordinary school books, 
for it is rather a dispensation from a 30Urce that is higher than 
books. He is not only trained in the knowledge of books, but he 
is trained in the experience of the world, and this dual education 
to a great extent accounts for his splendid success in the warfare 

Of life. 

Went to Arkansas in 1886. 

The subject came West in search of opportunity and fortune 
in the year of 1886, and Located at Jericho, Ark. When h> cai 



532 



BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 




j, H. TSHER 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



533 



he was a poor, struggling man, whose greatest asset was his grim 
determination to work hard and gain a substantia] foothold in life. 
He did not mind work, for he was after results. Coming as he 
had done from the poorer lands iii the State of Mississippi to the 

rich alluvial deposits in the eastern part of Arkansas, the changed 
agricultural conditions were a revelation to him, and did wonders 

to inspire him with the determination to do his besi to rise. He 
immediately took hold of the rich land, leased and chared up thirty - 
thrcc acres of land in two years' time and raised twenty-three bales 
of cotton thereon the second year. Hi' was much encouraged by 
his auspicious beginning, and was inspired to work harder and 
harder to reach the goal. 




!. H- Usher's Ginnery 
Bought His First Farm in 1892. 

After the energetic subject had been Leasing and working the 

fertile land around dericho for a few years, he decided to buy his 
lirst farm of Kin acres in the year of 1887. As he has .limbed 
higher and higher the ladder «.t 'success he has added to his original 
farm, until he is now the owner of four different farms, with i 
total of eight hundred (800) acres of Land. This land is rich in 
farming possibilities, and will average in a good crop year a bale 
or more of cotton to the acre. In addition to the land that he owns 



534 



BEACOX LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



he cultivates other large tracts of land, making about 1,200 acres 
that he has in cultivation. He is the farming chief in his com- 
munity, and there is no other member of the race to contest his 
supremacy along that line. 

The J. H. Usher Ginnery. 

In connection with his large farming interests, the suhject of 
this sketch operates a large ginnery, with tour gin stands of the 
most effective and most modern character. This ginnery had an 
output of 2.000 hales of cotton for the year of 1910-11. It is 
valued at $10,000. 




I. H. Usher's ( iiinii r\ 

The J. II. Usher Sawmill. 

The suhject owns and operates a large sawmill, capable of cutting 
an average of 20,000 feet of Lumber daily. This sawmill is huilt 
along approved and modern lines, and was erected at a cost of 
$3,500. 

'I'm: J. II. Usher General Spoke. 

Mr. I sher operates one of the largest mercantile establishments 

in I.asi Arkansas. It is a general store, and supplies not only his 
tenants, hut the genera] public as w, 11. It is busy the year round. 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACK 535 

and carries constantly a stock of goods thai will invoice in the 
neighborhood of % i.ono. 

Furnishes Nearly Forty Families. 

On the twelve hundred (1/200) acres of land that are cultivated 
hy the subject, thirty-five families of share farmers work. In the 
year of 1910 the share of the subject from the yield of his lands 
both owned and otherwise was four hundred (400) bales of cotton. 

Postmaster at Jericho, Ark. 

Not only does Mr. Usher enjoy the respect, esteem and confidence 
of his fellow-citizens, but he enjoys the confidence of the govern- 
ment of the United States, which has entrusted to his care the 
distribution of the mail in his town. He has been honored with the 
position of Postmaster of Jericho for about seven years, and his 
administration of the affairs of his office has been highly acceptable, 
not only to the patrons of the office, but to the governmental powers 
that be. 

His Enterprising and Devoted Wife. 

The great progress of the subject up the hill of life has been 
since the year of his marriage, for since that eventful and happy 
day. December 21, 1888, when he led Miss Jennie Long of Corinth, 
Mississippi, to the altar as his bride he has had not only the benefit 
of her personal encouragement, but her assistance as well. She 
was educated in the schools of Corinth. Miss., and taught in the 
schools of Mississippi and Arkansas for some time. She is a 
splendid woman, and to her quite as much credit is to be given for 
her husband's success as to himself. 

Their Three Children. 

The personal welfare of every real man or woman depends upon 
the worthy lives of their children. The worthy parents whose 
children are referred to in this paragraph have mad. every neces- 
sary provision for their children, tor they are being Bent to school in 
order to be educated for worthy and useful lives. Atha Long 
Usher is a. student of Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss. Mur- 
ray Frederick Usher ^ also a student of bust University, while 
Lillie Elizabeth Usher is a student of LeMoyne Normal Institute 
of Memphis, Tenn. All these children bid fair to live Lives "t 
promise if they but continue in the paths in which they have started 
and in which they are daily encouraged to go. 



536 



BE ACQS LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



An Estimate. 

Mr. Usher is not only one of the most progressive men of the 
race in the eastern part of the State of Arkansas, but he is easily 
one of the wealthiest. He lias made his wealth from the shoulder, 
and he is in every respect the architect of his own monument of 

success. He is a great business man and a man of superb common 
.sense. He has come to the front, as to the ownership of the goods 
of this world, as rapidly as any man has come in the history of the 
• astern part of his State, and it is a great compliment, both to the 
possibilities of his section and his ability to take advantage of them. 
that he has made this marvelous rise in the scale of business and 
financial success. He is a man that deserves everything that he 
has gained, either by the sweat of his own brow or the power of 
his intellect. He is highly esteemed and enjoys universal respect. 
While it is a mere matter of speculation as to the exact wealth of the 
subject, yet it can not be far out of the bounds of reason to rate 
him as being worth in the neighborhood of $75,000 to $80,000. 




BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 



537 



Pythian Temple Building, New Orleans, f.i. 



The Eighth Wonder. 

HE Eighth Wonder of the world is no! located in the 

Orient, in the Occident, nor at the North Pole, but right 
in the city of New Orleans, in the prosperous State of 
Louisiana. It is not a temple that is dedicated to the 
gods, hut it is a mammoth, modern, up-to-date building, dedicated 
to the Living and huilt by Negro brains and Negro capital. The 
name of this pretentious and magnificent structure is tin- Pythian 
Temple of New Orleans. I. a. 





L 



«S II ill 



pythian temple, new orleans, la. 
The Property of the Knights of Pythias of Louisiana. 

This elegant and substantial structure, as it- name indicates, 
is the property of the Knights of Pythias of the State of Louisiana, 
and was erected by this fraternity at a total cost of over $200,000 
It is the costliest building that was ever erected by the resour 
of the Negro race, and is an imperishable monument to the busini ss 
enterprise and business judgment of the race. It was dedicated 



538 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

use August IN. 1909) on an occasion that will ever be memorable 
in the annals of Pythianism in the State of Louisiana, and if the 
fraternity had nothing else to commend it to popular favor, it 
would still deserve to stand in the wan of the colored fraternal organ- 
izations of the State of Louisiana. 



A Mammoth Btilding. 

This mammoth building is one of the most elegant and one of the 
most symmetrically constructed buildings, from an architectural 
point of view, that can be found in the entire South. It has forty- 
two office rooms, eight spacious society halls or auditoriums, and 
several splendid apartments for business quarters. It has two 
elevators, one for the use of passengers and the other for the use 
of freight. The building has no wood in its construction, and is 
absolutely fireproof. It is in every respect a modern building, and 
it is fitted up with the latest conveniences and appliances. 

The Temple Roof Garden. 

On the top of this building there is a roof garden, where concerts, 
moving picture- exhibitions and other creditable entertainments are 
given, and altogether the roof garden is as much of a necessity 
as it is a novelty for the proper kind of social pleasure. It was 
the privilege of the writer to be carried up to this roof garden to 
witness a moving picture exhibition, and he was charmed, not only 
with the merits of the exhibition itself, but with the class of patrons 
and the model character of their demeanor. There was an orchestra 
j >resent that added its sweet strains to the pleasure of the occasion. 

A Fraternity Innovation. 

In tlie erection of this grand and imposing looking structure the 
Knights of Pythias of the State of Louisiana have inaugurated an 
innovation that will have a tendency to show them in a new light 
before the world. This progressive fraternity is putting more 
stress on business principles and business enterprises than in mys- 
terious handshakes and occult symbols. The able and worthy lead- 
< rs of tins grand fraternity are to lie congratulated because of their 
progressive ideaSj and the manner in which they have raised the 
fraternity in tin estimation of thinking men and women the country 
o\ er. 




DR. I'.OOKER T. W VSHING I' »N 



540 



BEACOX LI'; UTS OF THE RACE 



My Visit to Tuskegee. 

So much has been published to the world about that great world- 
known educational institution at Tuskegee that it is not necessary 
tor me to give any extended description of my trip to that institution. 




PROF. EMMETT J. SCOTT 



for I suppose that the experience of every other person who h i^ 
been so fortunate as to visit that famous educational plant has 
been similar to mine. 




l. Tantum Hall. Tuskegee Institute- 
Carni gie Lil ran Tuskegei [nstnute 

; -\cadcmic Build. . 1 Bkegee Institute. 



542 BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

Visited Tuskegee Institute in August, 1910. 

When the writer arrived at Tuskegee Institute the summer session 
was in full operation, and there were about eight or nine hundred 
students in attendance. There is no part of the year when there 
may not be found hundreds of students at Tuskegee. In fact, 
some of the students never return to their homes from the time 
they enter until after their graduation. 

The Buildings Look Like a World's Fair. 

The buildings of Tuskegee form one of the most inspiring sights 
that a person has ever seen, and the best and most accurate com- 
parison that the writer can make is to liken them to the grand and 
imposing spectacle of a World's Fair. There are about sixty brick 
buildings of varying sizes, and they present a spectacle that is as 
grand as it is inspiring. The monster building of the lot is the 
great dinning hall, which is capable of seating two thousand 
students. 

The Best Ac< ommodations for Visitors. 

Visitors to Tuskegee are always royally treated, and arc gi\ -:i 
the best accommodations that the school affords. The proper enter- 
tainment of the thousands of visitors that flock to Tuskegee in the 
course of a year is the cause of no small outlay of money. There 
are certain quarters that arc set aside for the entertainment of 
guests, and everything is as comfortable as money can provide. 

A School for Work, Not Show. 
It may be supposed by some people that Tuskegee is a school for 
dress parade and show only, but the experience of the students 
who attend it is just to the contrary, for the school is a veritable 
beehive of industry the year round. They do real work at Tuske- 
gee. and they prepare a student for success out in the walks of 
life. They really teach the various practical trades and they do 
so in an effectft e manner. 

Everywhere Is System. 
In Bpite of the fact that Tuskegee Normal Institute is the larg- 
est Negro institution of learning in the world, possibly, it is at the 
same time one of the best governed schools. Everywhere you 

look and go there is perfeel system. Visit the fields and you will 
see perfect system in the arrangement of the furrows, methods of 
cultivation and in everything on the farm. 

The Master Minds or Ti bkegee. 
Tuskegee Normal Institute goes on just the same whether Dr. 
Washington is in Europe, Asi i or Africa, tor there are some master 
minds that are connected with the management of that great school 




1. White Memorial Bui ; Institute. 

2. I ifl B uilding. Tuskegee Instil 

3. The Four Emen s, 

4. Thompkins ninmu Hall. 






"44 BEACOy LIGHTS OF THE RACE 

that can prevent anything like chaos from making its appearance. 
In the person of Prof. Emmett J. Scott, Treasurer Warren Logan 
..nil others, the government of Tuskegec is assured. It is without 
doubt the grandest monument to the administrative genius of the 
Negro race that can be found in the wide world. The writer could 
write many pages about the wonderful things that he saw at Tuske- 
gee, but he would exhort all that can possibly do so to lay aside all 
other responsibilities, go to Tuskegee and see something that is 
even greater than one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 

Edmondson, Arkans is. 

Its Location. 

The little town of Edmondson, Ark... is situated on the Rock 
Island Railroad, about seventeen miles from Memphis, Tenn. It 
is located in a region of marvelous fertility, and the productive 
capacity of this region in a year that is most suitable for crops 
would rival the delta of the Nile in Africa. 

Its Population. 

The population of the town of Edmondson is wholly colored, and 
no property in the town is owned by a member of any other race. 
Not only is there a preponderance of black people in the town of 
Edmondson, but all over the county. Crittenden County is one of 
the black counties of the State of Arkansas, and is one of tin 
counties in which the material progress of the race is most marked. 

Tin: Story of Edmondson, Ark. 

The story of the manner in which the colored people got in 
i ntire possession of" the town of Edmondson and surrounding 
country is a grand tribute to the sagacity and foresight of the pro- 
moters of the Edmondson Home & Improvement Company. It is 
true that many colored people owned land in tin neighborhood of 
Edmondson some time before the organization of tins company, but 
there was considerable property that belonged to members of the 

white race. The enterprising leaders and officers of the Kdmond- 
SOn Home & Improvement Company saw in the possession of such 
a vast tract of land by the whites a menace to the future growth 
and prosperity of the race, and they began with their minds, hearts 
:iid purses to formulate plans by which the vasl tracts of land that 

\v ere owned by the whites illicit be purchased for the use of the 
colored people. As soon as the Edmondson Home & Improvement 
Company was organized its promoters began active operations to 



BEACON LIGHTS OF THE RACK 545 

get possession of the lands iii question. The company was chartered 
November 10, 1902, and in the year of 1908 it had collected from 

the stockholders $500, which it was able to put up as earnest money 

for the purchase of its first tract of land. As soon as the company 
had succeeded in purchasing one tract of land it would have a 
public sale and dispose of enough of the land to make the various 
payments that it had contracted to make. Thus in this manner 
their business shrewdness enabled them to make the purchased 
lands more than pay for themselves and then have numbers of acres 
in reserve for future use. The company purchased the .'. P. 
Edmondson tract, the H. C. Jones tract and the I). K. Gibson tract, 
the three tracts amounting to practically two thousand acres of land. 
This purchase redeemed the community to the ownership of the 
colored people, and was the beginning of one of the most unique 
settlements of the race in the South. 

Extent of the Edmondson Settlement. 

The company itself has control of 5,407 acres of land. The 
people outside of the company own 1 '2,000 acres of land. The 
settlement of Edmondson extends from northeast to southwest about 
ten or eleven miles, and lias an average width of three or four 
miles. Thus the land of the colored people of Edmondson. Ark., 
covers an area of thirty square miles. 

Its Business Enterprises. 

The town of Edmondson has a local and long distance telephone 
exchange in active operation. The Edmondson Electric Light Com 
pany, with a capital of $50,000, has already been incorporated for 
the purpose of establishing an electric plant. A bank will be in 
operation by the autumn of I|)1I if nothing happens to prevent the 
fruition of the promoters' plans. There are ten stores, two restau- 
rants, one hotel and several boarding houses. It has a large <j:i n n«r y 
and a sawmill. 

MlS< ELL VNEOl S. 

The religious life of the town is safeguarded by two Baptist 
churches and one Methodist church, and the educational interests of 
the race are promoted by a good town school that has three teacher. 
and runs for nine months in each year. The postmaster of the town 
is a colored man. In the community of Kdmondson there are over a 
hundred men that own from ten acres up to eighty acres of land. 
Some of the wealthiest men of the Edmondson community are 
William Wofford, W. (1. Waterford, A. A. Waterford, B. T. Wofford, 
J. P. Wofford, V. H. Ward. Charles Ward. George Davis. A. C. 



546 



BEACOX LIGHTS <>F THE RACE 



Waterford, A. Harris. John Holly. Andy Price and Ned Dove. P. 
H. Ward and William Wofford own tin- Kdmondson Gin Company, 
which gins all of the cotton for tin- settlement. W. G. Waterford 
& Sons own a mammoth two-story concrete building tor mercantile, 
official and general business purposes. The Edmondson Home \ 
Improvement Company also contemplates erecting a large two-story 
concrete building in the near future. Altogether the town of Ed- 
mondson is a monument to the wisdom of colored people, and is 
destined to become one of the leading centi rs in this country to 
show what the Negro race is capable of doing when it is left to its 
own j udgment and will. 




RESIDENCE OF U II. I [AM BURR( WS C< ntractor and Builder 



CONTENTS 

P \i.i:. 
- 
Preface 

Bishop K. Cottrell, Holly Springs, Miss 7 

Arthur McKimmon Brown. A.H.. M.D.. Birmingham, Ala 18 

Rev. ( . L. Bonner, HA).. \)\)-. Toccoa, Ga 26 

Moses A. (lark. Marianna, Ark 

VV. A. .1. Morgan, Shelhy, Miss ' ; 

Prof. W. .1. Nickerson, NYw Orleans, La 50 

Prof. .1. T. Strong, Itta lima. Miss '■ - ; 

A. J. Oak. s. Yazoo City. Miss 57 

Victor P. Thomas. New Orleans, La ,)l ' 

John W. Strauther (deceased), Greenville, Miss • >!» 

.1. (). Diti'ay. Birmingham, Ala ~~ 

Prof. W. E. Lew, Birmingham, Ala s ' 

Dr. A. A. Cosey, Mound Bayou. Miss s ' 

L. I . Gobi, A.B.. M.D.. Birmingham, Ala 

William Alexander, Little Rock, Ark 97 

Prof. .1. A. Martin. B.S.. Jac-kson. Miss 103 

A. N. Johnson. Nashville, Tenn ' ' ' 

R( v. M. M. Ponton, A.M.. S. T. D., Jackson, Miss 117 

Rev. II. H. Kin-, n.n.. Yazoo City. Miss 12-i 

S. I). Redmond, A.M.. M.D.. Jackson, Miss 

Hon. .1. K. Bush, Little Rock, Ark I ; " 

Scotl Bond. Madison. Ark 153 

Rev. .1. A. Booker, A.M.. D.D., Little Rock, Ark 167 

Rev. .1. 1'. Robinson, A.M.. D.D., 1. 1.. I).. Little Rock. Ark 175 

I;- \. T. O. Fuller, A.M.. Ph.D., D.D., M< mphis, Tenn 185 

Chas. Banks. Mound Bayou. Miss 

W. W. Cox, [ndianola, Miss 215 

E. T. Belsaw, \).\).>.. Mobile, Ala 

H. Wayman Wilkerson, Memphis, Tenn 

Rev. E. C. Morris. I). I).. Helena, Ark 

Dr. .1. A. Lindsay. \).\).. Memphis, Tenn 251 

H. H. Garner, Little Rock, Ark 

Prof. J. A. (). Williams. B.S.. Holly Springs Miss 

Rev. Harvey A. Onque, A.M.. S. T. B., \- w Orl< ans, La 

Isaiah T. Montgomery, Mound Bayou. Miss. 

R. A. Williams. M.D.. Helena, Ark 



Rev. .1. Jay Scott. B.S.. Memphis, Tenn 297 

.1 S. Tackett, M.I).. Edmondson, Ark 

Perry VV. Howard, A.M.. LL.B., Jackson, Miss 308 

A. L. Fleming, Edmondson, Ark 

William Driskell, Atlanta, Ga 319 

J. H. Barabin, A.B., M.D., Marianna, Ark 325 

Rev. 1). J. Mitchell, Franklin, Tenn 33 I 

Rev. J. C. Martin. D.D.. Memphis, Tenn 

II. W. Doxey, Holly Springs, Mis- 342 

i 1. ('. Ellison, Memphis, Tenn 346 

\. B. Houser, M.D., Helena, Ark 351 

Rev. A. M. Johnson, D.D., Vicksburg, Miss 36l 

M. L. Clay, Memphis, Tenn 365 

.1. E. Walker, LL.B., Gunnison, Miss 370 

Prof. R. B. Hudson, A.M.. Selma, Ala 376 

15. F. Booth. Memphis, Tenn •' ! > s •" , 

Prof. E. II McKissack, A.M.. Holly Springs, Miss 392 

E. W. Irving, M.D., Memphis, Tenn K>2 

Rev. T. J. Searcy, D.D.. Memphis, Tenn '■'■■■ 

('. W. Allen, Mol.il. . Ala 416 

\JL. 1). Byas, M.D.j Memphis, Tenn I - 

W. E. Mollison, Vicksburg, Miss I'-':- 

Thomas II. Hayes) Memphis, Tenn ; 

W. A. Rayfield, B.S., Birmingham, Ala t51 

A. E. < I oust on, Memphis, Tenn ' ,s 

William E. Benson, A. 15.. Kowaliga, Ala t62 

.1. T. Settle, A.M.. 1. 1. .15.. Memphis, Tenn 17 i 

I.. V. Brown, M.D., Greenville, Miss t8~ 

Rev. C. P. Jones, Jackson. Miss 500 

Rev. W. A. Dinkins, A. 15.. I). I).. Dublin, Ga ~><>l 

.1. \V. Sanford, Jr., Memphis, Tenn 510 

W. A. Attaway, M.D., Greem ille, Miss " I I 

Prof. .1. II. Bl.mnl . Forresl City, Ark 518 

I). 15. Mill.r. M.D., .Memphis. Tenn 

Mrs. I.i lli.in L. Smith, Denver, Col 528 

.1. II. Usher, Jericho, Ark ' '>-<\ 

Pythian Temple Building, New Orleans, La "••' ; 7 

\l \ Trip to Tuskegee 540 

Edmondson, Ark • I ' 



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